Out Of Control
by Benzol85
Summary: Jess can't cope, how much would it take for her to turn to someone for help?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N – Time to try a different pairing…this might go slightly awry._

_xXx_

"No Jess tonight then?" Karen should've known the usual Friday night custom; she, Bex and Harry were usually the ones having their late night tea from the chippie whilst Jess was in town larging it.

"No, but she is upstairs." Harry noted, taking his place at the table.

"Oh, really?" She frowned. "Doing what exactly?"

He shrugged. "She doesn't usually tell me. From what I could loosely gather, she's been on the internet a lot."

Karen thought it best not to probe any further; after all, Jess was at the age where she could pretty much do whatever she wanted – within reason, of course.  
>The fact that she was being anti-social didn't bother her, as she was usually like that every Friday night, home or otherwise. What did bother her, however, was what she was on the internet for.<p>

...

"Don't you think we should find out?" Bex asked Harry after they'd finished their tea and were sitting in the lounge together.

"You know what Jess is like though." He noted. "She'll only get all defensive or go for the worst option and lie about it."

"But mum is bothered about it, if you'd seen her at the table." She suggested. "After all that's happened with us, we should at least try not to let anything else happen."

Jess didn't know why she was doing what she was – but she was getting a huge thrill out of it.  
>She'd been on the <em>sixth<em> dating site that night, uploading a few pictures here and there before moving onto the seventh.

"Jess?" Bex's voice was heard from outside her bedroom door.

"Just a second." She quickly closed the windows on her laptop, before folding the top down and then getting up to unlock the door.

"Why have you locked the door?" A few attempts at twisting the doorknob failed, as the lock was swiftly slid away from the door. "What was all that about?"

"Well you know what mum's like." She chirpily noted, leading her into the bedroom. "Poking her nose in here and there all the time. I do get a bit sick of it you know, Bex."

"Yeah, but still…" She slowly sat down on her bed, gazing over at her laptop, with its top folded over. She knew it was still on as she could see the power light flashing against the wall. "I _am_ your _sister_. You shouldn't have to hide things from me."

"Why would I hide anything from you?" She frowned. "I haven't got anything to hide."

"Oh. Well, good." She gazed into her sister's eyes carefully. "Why aren't you out in town tonight?"

"Wanted a change of scenery." Jess quickly fibbed. "The clubbing scene does get a bit boring for me sometimes."

She smirked a little. "Doesn't sound like something you'd usually want to do." She came closer to her. "So you were bored with that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know…I guess so." She almost jumped when she felt a hand on her wrist.

Bex looked to her, her eyes softening somewhat. "So we can do more sisterly things together?"

She drew in a small yet deep breath. She hadn't expected her to say something like that. It wasn't like she didn't want to spend any time with her, but it would immensely scupper her own plans. "Sisterly things like what?"

"Well…you know. Going into town together to go shopping…that sort of thing."

"So no clubbing?" She sounded crestfallen.

She shook her head softly. "You know doing that sort of thing too often the way you do does you no favours."

Jess sharply looked away. "What next, doing _flower-pressing_ together?"

Bex gazed at her, shocked. "You don't have to be so sarcastic about it." Not wanting to leave things so tense between them, she tried again, placing her hand on her shoulder. "Jess, we've been apart for so long…don't you think we should spend some time together as sisters?"

"Come clubbing with me one night." She pleaded. "Then you'll see what it's really like."

"You know my feelings on things like that, and I don't like it." She noted. "God only knows who you'll meet in places like that. You should know, after what happened before."

"They're not all like that." Jess protested.

Bex softly shook her head. "That's not what I want us to do as sisters. You've got the wrong idea about it."

"Ok, if that's the way you want to play it." She scowled, crossing her arms over her chest. "Go back to your _flower-pressing_ or _daisy-chain making_. See if _I_ care."

"Jess…" She went to protest, as she was pushed back outside and had her sentence cut off by the door closing in her face.

Undefeated, she went back downstairs, curling herself up on the sofa not too far away from Harry.

"No luck, I take it?" He assumed quietly.

She shook her head dimly. "There's no reasoning with her."

He smirked to himself. "Trying reasoning with her when she _isn't_ sober."

"Where's mum anyway?" She noticed Karen wasn't really about, not since after tea had finished.

"Gone out, I think." He had to think back to about five minutes ago. "That caretaker from the school wanted to pick her up…take her out somewhere."

"Oh?" Bex couldn't help but mentally take note of that. "_Husband number three_, is it?"

"I don't know." Harry peered down at the floor. "I hope not. I think she could do better than _him_."

"He's not that bad." She gazed over at him. "I can think of _worse_ people she could've gone with."

"Did she give a very good reason as to why she wasn't out like she usually is?" He wanted to know.

She drew in a small breath. "She said she was bored."

He laughed a little to himself. "I think she's having you on, Bex."

"Why can I not shake off this feeling that something bad is going to happen?"

"To _us_?" Harry assumed. "Don't you think you're worrying too much? We're _together_ now, things are going to be fine."

"I just know _something_ will happen." She noted shakily, trying to take her mind off her worry by attempting to watch the TV.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning.

Karen was waiting for Jess to come downstairs – herself, Harry and Bex were all ready to head off out together. "Jess, come on. If you don't want to come with us, at least let us know…"

No answer.

"Do you want me to…?" Harry started.

"Let _me_ try." Bex quickly went upstairs, finding Jess sitting at her laptop. She hastily slammed its top down. "What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Doesn't seem like it." She came closer to her, unable to resist feeling a little bit suspicious of her. "You _are_ hiding something, aren't you?"

"No." She quickly grabbed hold of her laptop, not wanting to let it go. "I've already told you, I've got nothing to hide."

"I don't know why you think I'm going to want to look at what _you've_been looking at online." She pointed out. "I'm only up here, trying to act as a go-between for you and mum and she wants to know if you're coming with us or not."

"N-no." She stammered out hastily. "I've got stuff to be getting on with."

"Oh, you mean stuff like _homework_?" Bex sarcastically assumed. "Since when have you taken homework seriously enough?"

Jess shook her head. "Where are you all planning on going?"

"Well, it's a nice day. I think mum just wants to take us out. You know, maybe for a _change in scenery_, like you seemed to want last night."

"Well, unlike _you_, the stuff that _I_ want to get on with is more _interesting_ than going out with _mum_." She retorted, prompting her to look at her, shocked.

"How can you _say_ something like that?" She went to leave her to it, not believing how _callous_ she sounded. "I'll just tell mum that you're…not coming." And with that, she shut the bedroom door behind her to go back downstairs.

Karen and Harry patiently waited by the foot of the stairs.

"She's not coming." Bex dimly pointed out.

"Oh, well…what a _surprise_." She quipped, fishing her car keys out ready. "Let's go then."

Once she was sure all three of them had gone, Jess quickly flipped the top of her laptop open and read through the first few messages from her admirers.

"_Just seen your pic…WOW."_

_"You look gorgeous."_

_"Want to meet up?"_

She glowed inside at the positive comments. She felt glad that neither Harry nor Bex were around to see her blushing to herself.  
>Eagerly, she started to reply back to them, giving them her number and waiting for the replies.<p>

...

Monday morning.

"So where's Jess then?" Chris slid a set of mock paper questions to Vicky, noticing the empty space at her side.

She shrugged.

"Not like you to not know where she is." He pointed out, although not in a nasty way.

"_I _don't know where she is. We're not joined at the hip, you know, Sir." She quipped.

"I never said that you were, but…" His answer was cut short, when his door opened, and Jess hastily came in. "Just when I was going to ask your _mum _where you were."

"Sorry I was late." She _was_ genuinely apologetic, but he wasn't done with her just yet.

Chris came over to her, folding his arms across his chest. "You wanna tell me where you were, Jess?"

"I was on my way here." She protested.

"So how come everyone else was able to get here on time and not you?" He tilted his head in Vicky's direction. "Even _Vicky _got here on time. I'm surprised the pair of you didn't come in together. I mean, for the first block of the day…"

She didn't care about anything else he wanted to say to her, but it was pretty clear that he was done with her for then.

"Well, you'd better try and _remember_ why you're in five minutes later than everyone else when you see me at the end, but I _will _tell your mum." He resignedly went back to his desk, retrieved a copy of the questions paper and handed it to her.

She scowled at him as he went back behind his desk again.

Vicky's eyes widened at the state she was in.

"_What_?" She snapped at her.

She shook her head, going back to what she was writing.

"Problem already, Jess?" Chris peered over at her. He couldn't understand her behaviour.

"I think he's onto something." Vicky sharply shot at her. "You _have_ got a problem. A _big _one."

...

Jess decided to say very little to Chris after the set; she felt fortunate she didn't have any sets after as she would've been late for those and that _he _didn't have any in case anyone else came in and saw them both talking.

"Your performance has really nose-dived the past few weeks, Jess." He started, going over her almost all incorrect answers with his pen. "I mean, seriously…this _has_ to change."

She said nothing, but cast her gaze away from him.

"You know, sometimes I'm sure you're not even listening to a word I say." He noted almost intuitively. "If something's wrong, I have a right to know what it is."

"I don't want _you _helping me."

"Why not exactly?" His blue eyes fixed themselves onto hers carefully. "I know you find it hard to talk to your mum at times, but if you want anything to be a bit more _confidential_, you know I'm only here."

Jess shook her head slowly. "You can't help me. You wouldn't understand."

"I understand enough to know you didn't get a lot of sleep last night." He pointed out. "Another late one, was it?"

She drew in a deep breath, feeling her cheeks burn at the realisation he'd noticed her dark circles under the thick application of foundation.

"That sort of lifestyle doesn't do you any favours at your age."

"What _are_ you, my counsellor?"

"No, but I _am_ your teacher." Chris pulled himself out from behind his desk. "I did _exactly _the same sort of stuff when I was your age, so don't think I don't know what you're going through."

"You have no idea what I'm going through."

He frowned, perching on the desk in front of her so he could look at her better. "Enough to get some idea that your mind is far from your _work_." He flicked through the mock paper. "I don't even know what any of what you wrote is _about_."

"I'm sorry." She mumbled quietly.

"Well, sorry doesn't quite cut it. You're in your _final year_, Jess. I expected better from you." He placed the paper on top of the others on the desk. "I'm going to have to _fail_ you for that mock test. And I'm still sticking by the fact that your mum has to know about this."

"No, please don't." Jess pleaded with him. "Don't do that."

"I _have_ to." He noted steadily. "You haven't given me a valid reason for…whatever you think this is. I wanna keep a close eye on you from now on. Now you'd better go."


	3. Chapter 3

After school that day.

"I was thinking we could go and watch a film." Bex suggested, sliding up to Jess once she'd caught up with her.

"I-I can't." She kept her gaze to the ground as they went to walk home together.

"Oh, come _on_, Jess. Monday is _over_. What better way to celebrate?"

"Because _my_ idea of celebrating doesn't involve going out to see a _film_, Bex." She shot out.

"No, I guess _your_ idea of celebrating is getting well and truly off your trolley." Bex pouted. "You're so irresponsible at times."

...

Meanwhile, Chris remained with Karen in her room. "Everything with yourself _is _ok, isn't it?" He wanted to make sure.

She nodded, smiling slightly. "Of _course _it is. Why do you ask?" Her smile faded when his expression became more worried. "You shouldn't have to worry about me or any of us, Chris…we're fine."

"As long as you're sure…" His voice tailed off, as he swiftly moved his gaze away. "I just want you to feel like you can tell me anything and everything."

"You _know _I would do that." She lowered an eyebrow slightly. "Is there something in particular that's bothering you?"

"Jess seems to be worrying me a bit." He noted slowly.

She smirked to herself. "She worries _all _of us."

"No, not the way she worries _me_." Chris came closer to her. "She was in my set earlier…I got them all to sit a mock test."

She didn't like where that was going.

"Karen, I…she didn't get a single answer correct."

Karen leant back slightly against the desk. "That doesn't sound like her."

"She's usually so bright." He started. "But over the past few weeks, she's not done that well. I just wanna make sure that things with her at home are ok, and I feel better talking to _you_ about that than going to _her_."

She smiled softly. "I can understand that." She cast her gaze away from his bright, blue eyes. "Jess usually behaves the same way as she does _every _night. She goes up to her room, barely sees any of us, and the next time you see her, it's the next day before we leave to come here."

He nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, do you exactly _know _what she does up in her room?" He noticed her concerned expression. "I'm not trying to interrogate you, I really do wanna help, and after seeing her this morning…I can't help but wanna intervene somewhere."

"Why, what was she like this morning?"

"I don't think she's been sleeping all that well, and she was trying to hide the fact that she hadn't." Chris flicked through her answer paper that he'd taken with him. "This isn't the standard I expected from her, and I shouldn't have to lecture you, of all people, about that. I don't _want_ to and that's not what I'm here for. Can you try to talk to her tonight? Get some answers out of her at least…"

Karen shook her head resignedly. "I don't know what you want me to say to her…"

"At least try and make her see that she _has_ to do better than this. I know that she's capable of a lot _more _than this, and I don't understand why she's doing it."

"What if it was her hormones?"

He smirked a little. "You mean things girls _typically_ go through at her age?" He folded his arms across his chest. "Well, possibly…but this has been happening _consistently_. Not on and off."

She drew in a deep breath.

"I know she's a very wayward person, but you're her _mum_. I don't know what she's going through, she might not be going through anything. But she has to sort her attitude out somehow."

"I'll try and talk to her tonight." She decided.

He smiled softly. "You don't even have to say a lot to her, as long as she gets _some_ idea that you want her to do better than _this_."

...

Later that night.

Bex knew she shouldn't have been doing what she was, but she _had_ to know for herself what Jess was getting herself into.  
>She was <em>shocked<em> at going through pictures that she'd uploaded of herself – and they were hardly anything like happy family snaps, oh no.

They were pictures of a more _adult _nature.

"Jess, are you in here?" Karen's voice came from outside the bedroom door.

She quickly slammed the lid down on the laptop, even though it was still on.

"Oh. Hi, love." She was surprised to see Bex in there. "Any idea where your sister is?"

"No. No, I don't know where she's gone, mum." She was aware that she might have wanted some idea of why _she_ was in her _sister's_ room when she wasn't there. "I was looking for something of mine that she borrowed, but I must have it in my room somewhere."

She smiled a little and closed the door slightly.

_That _was close. Bex lifted the lid back up on the laptop, going into the web history of what she'd recently accessed.

A few adult dating sites had popped up in her history log.

"God, Jess…" She breathed, in shock. "What _are_ you getting yourself into?"

...

"Are you not going to be tired for tomorrow?" Vicky wanted to know, as Jess handed her a bottle that she'd ordered for her at the bar.

"What's wrong with having some fun?" She talked above the loud music. "Lighten _up_."

She rolled her eyes at the ceiling.

"We're not going to be here for long anyway." She looked around. "I can't see any fit blokes in here tonight."

"So that was all you wanted to come out for?" She sharply assumed. "To get _laid_?"

Jess shrugged. "Problem with that?"

"Yeah, a big problem." Vicky was ready to go, and she didn't care if she wasn't coming with her. "You're _desperate_, Jess."

"I'm _what_?" She followed her outside, grasping hold of her wrist and pulling her towards her to force her to look at her. "Say that to my face."

"What, that you just wanna get _laid_ or that you're _desperate_?" She shot back. "No wonder Mr Mead's onto you the way he is, and you know what? I don't blame him."

"He doesn't know what I'm going through, _no one_ does." She scowled. "Why are you taking _his_ side?"

Vicky shook her head. "Would you _listen_ to yourself? Sometimes I wonder why you're even my _mate_." Managing to pull herself away, she stormed off, leaving her by herself outside.


	4. Chapter 4

Tuesday morning.

Jess felt the early sunlight hit her eyes; her head throbbed from what was left of the alcohol, and she didn't even know where she'd ended up.  
>Her stomach flipped itself so many times as she found herself curled up on the ground, but it wasn't as though she'd been ditched in the middle of nowhere.<p>

"Jess…Jess, are you ok?" A familiar voice spoke out above her.

She mumbled incoherently when she felt a few fingers gently sweep her slightly tangled red hair from her eyes. "W-where am I?"

"I don't think I need to ask you what _you've _been up to." The owner of the voice bent down beside her, softly combing her bangs back to where they should've been. "But you can't come to school like this."

Her eyelids weakly lifted themselves open some more, and she realised that _Chris _was knelt down, right next to her. "I-I'm so sorry…"

He smiled slightly. "Why are you sorry?"

"F-for you having to find me like this."

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "How does your stomach feel?"

"It feels like it's doing a hundred somersaults right now."

He laughed a little at her comment. "Well, I can't exactly leave you like this and I've got plenty of time to get to the school. So why don't you come to mine for a bit so I can sort you out?"

"I-I don't want to cause any problems for you…" After what had happened between them before…

"It's not a problem. Now come on." He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up into a standing position.

She almost felt like _touching_ him as he helped her up. The contact was just…too close. "I don't mind if you only take me home…" At least that way, the coast would've been clear for her to go into the house the way she was, get herself sorted out and then head into school straight after that. Job done.

"Not when you can't even walk in a straight line." Chris took her into his flat and helped her to sit on the edge of the bath. "Your eyes look a _mess_."

Jess almost jumped a foot in the air as he placed an ice-cold, wet tissue against the area under her eye.

"And there was me thinking you weren't getting enough sleep again." He noted, softly wiping the heavily smudged eyeliner fused with fallen mascara from under her eye before moving onto the other one. "These late nights have got to stop, you know."

"I guess now my mum's worried about my performance."

"Well, she's definitely _concerned_, Jess, I'll give her that." He disposed of the tissue, as he looked her over again. "She thinks it's just a phase, but I can't help thinking there's something else going on."

She nervously looked away.

"Whatever you say, I will not think any less of you or tell your mum. This is between us, ok?"

She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "You'd think I'm dirty…"

"No, I wouldn't." His bright blue eyes carefully fixed themselves onto her. "I wanna help you. I don't think you're going to get help any other way."

She peered down at the floor.

"It's something your mum can't help you with…isn't it?"

Jess nodded slowly. "I take it you now think I'm crazy."

"No, far _from_ it, Jess. You just need to talk." Chris took in her crumpled appearance; her clothes were quite badly creased, and they wouldn't have passed as _school _clothes if he took her straight there. "I really haven't got anything for you to wear for now, so I'll have to run you back to your mum's. Are you sure you're going to be ok getting in and doing that?"

She nodded steadily. "Mum would've already left with Bex and Harry by now, so I should be ok."

"Ok." He got his car keys out and thought for a few seconds. "I haven't got a set after lunch, if you wanna come and see me then…that's if _you _haven't got one either, as I don't want you missing anything else."

She smiled a little. "I haven't got one then either…"

"Then that's decided." He playfully smirked. "You come and see me then, so we can talk some more. Try and work out what's going on."

...

Chris ran her back to her place.

"Thanks for taking me back."

"No problem." His bright blue eyes shimmered in the sunlight. "I'm just glad that I found you when I did."

Jess almost felt her breath get taken away as he swept her bangs back. "So you don't think I'm crazy?"

"No, of course not." His voice came out thick.

She nodded slowly. She trusted him.

"Try not to worry."

"O-ok." She was especially glad that he wasn't thinking of taking her away.

"_I'm _here now."

...

Quarter to two that day.

Jess loitered around outside by Chris's door, debating with herself to go in and see him. Why did she suddenly feel so awkward?

"_There_ you are." He'd obviously given up waiting and was going to see if he could've found her. "Did you not wanna come in and see me?"

She nodded faintly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't feel like that, I know. But I've been having second thoughts about it."

"Well, you're kinda _here _now." He smiled playfully, as he closed the door behind them. "And don't feel like you can't come and see me or have second thoughts about it. You've got absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about."

Jess shakily sat down at the nearest desk by the door, prompting him to perch in front of her. "I thought it best to try and show you what I've been doing."

"O-ok…" Chris had _no _idea what she was going to show him, but his eyes widened a little as he watched her pull her laptop out of her bag. "You know you shouldn't really take that into…"

"I know." She nodded. "But I felt it was the only way to show you."

"If you think it'd help." He had to agree with her there. "But I would _hate _for that to get stolen."

She powered it up, going through her web history. "I don't see how you can really help me with this, but I've been using a few dating sites."

He shrugged. "I don't see a problem there. As long as you're careful about using sites like that, I guess…" Not that _he_ had any experience about using anything like that. "You mean you've actually set up accounts on places like _this_?"

Jess nodded slowly. "That's not all."

He swallowed hard at the realisation that the sites were actually more _adult_ than what she was allowed to be on. Not only _that_, but she'd submitted several adult pictures of herself – mostly with nothing on. "J-Jess…you're not even _old_ enough to be on sites like this."

"I know I'm not."

"Then why do this?" Chris's bright blue eyes dimmed in confusion. "If you know you shouldn't be doing it, why are you?" He flitted his gaze to the screen and then back to her. "If this is one of your ways of drawing attention to yourself, you're doing so in the worst possible way."

She gazed at him dimly.

"If I were you, I would stop using those sites and take those pictures off – before you end up in trouble."

"Please don't tell my mum."

"I won't tell your mum, don't worry about that." He assured her. "But I want you to do what I just told you."

She nodded slowly.

"Ok, good." He didn't quite believe that she would have. "Do you remember much about what happened last night?"

"I didn't think you would talk about that…" Jess suddenly felt her head hurt from the leftover hangover.

"Well, you weren't exactly in the most _ideal_ condition." He teasingly noted, although went back to being more sombre. "And you made it very clear you didn't want your mum to find out where you'd gone."

She swallowed hard, as she folded her laptop down and put it away.

"I mean is it at all related to…all of this going on?"

She gazed into his soft blue eyes. "In part."

Chris tilted his head attentively. "You don't sound very sure."

"I don't understand why I ended up where I did."

"Well, that's the benefit of getting completely wasted, isn't it?" He quipped. "When you don't remember what happened or where you went the night before."

She nodded weakly. "I just felt really…I don't know. Bad about myself."

"But why? I don't understand."

She shrugged. "Because I know that I leave here, I'll leave with nothing."

"_Don't _feel bad about yourself." His hands moved to hers. "And don't _ever _think that you'll leave here with nothing."

Jess jumped at the contact.

"I don't really get your mindset right now." He admitted honestly. "You're capable of doing really well, but this behaviour…has got to stop."

She got up slowly. She knew that Chris was right about that, but for some reason, signing up to several adult dating sites gave her a small buzz.

"Promise me you won't do anything else like that again, Jess."

She nodded dimly. "I promise." And she left the room, leaving him slightly doubtful about whether she'd actually do what he asked of her.


	5. Chapter 5

Karen looked _all over the place _for Jess, failing to find her; she noticed Chris was all on his own, quietly marking, as she came in.  
>"Is the word 'break' not in your dictionary?" She teased, prompting him to peer up at her.<p>

"You _startled_ me there." He breathed a small sigh of relief at seeing her stand by his desk. "I was on a break earlier…I've got to _seriously _catch up with this."

"You haven't seen Jess at all, have you?"

"Yeah, my last set was with her." He _did_ tell a small white lie. He didn't at _all_ have a set with her, but she'd been to _see _him. "Everything ok now?"

She shook her head. "I couldn't talk to her last night."

He pulled himself out from behind his desk, his eyes carefully fixed on hers. "Why not?"  
>He didn't know the full extent of what had happened the previous night. Ok, he found her that morning amid the dustbins where she looked worse for wear, but he had no idea that Jess hadn't spoken or seen her <em>at all<em>.

"I didn't see her all night."

Chris decided not to mention anything about where she told him she _had_ been, as he didn't want to worry her or give anything away. "She might have been with a _boyfriend _or something. You never know, do you?"

She shook her head dimly. "She's not with anyone _I_ know of."  
>There was an air of weakness about her, which he found quite disconcerting. "I know she likes to go her own way, but sometimes she <em>does<em> worry me."

He decided to keep quiet.

"I'm trying to play happy families, but I can't if she keeps disobeying me the way she does."

"To be fair, I think that's just the way she is, Karen." He admitted. "I can understand that you're trying very hard to make things work at home, but it might be better for all of you if you let her go her own way."

Karen nodded slowly. "I guess, but she _is_ my little girl."

"She'll _always_ be that. But I think if you force anything on her she doesn't like, then she's not likely to do it, is she?" He pointed out. "Just trust her…she won't do anything as _extreme _as you might think."

She smiled a little. "Thanks for that, Chris."

"Not a problem." He smiled softly. "I'm just glad you came to me, rather than deciding to do nothing about it."

...

Jess stood in the doorway to her mother's room after school.

"I guess I can call off the search party now then." She noted, gazing up at her as she sheepishly came into the room. "What on _earth _happened to you last night, young lady?"

"I was out with some mates." She faintly replied, not wanting to meet her annoyed gaze. "Sorry."

Karen shook her head slowly. "I'm just glad nothing happened to you. You should let me know when you want to do things like that, Jess – not go whenever you _feel_ like it."

She glared at her. "You wouldn't have let me go out anyway, if I told you where I was going to go."

"I still have a right to know." She stated. "And you've got some _serious_ catching up to do before your final exams."

"But they're not for a few months yet…"

"Well, judging by what you've written during the mock test Mr Mead set up for you, I think you need more time than that." She dropped her completed answer paper on the desk in front of her. "We're both worried about your performance."

Jess backed away a little. "I don't like it when you like this, mum."

Karen leant further forward behind her desk. "If _I _don't say it, who else will?"

"He's made all of this up, hasn't he?" She felt a little cheated that Chris had gone and explained to her that he was worried about her.

"No, he's _concerned_. And he has every right to be after what you'd written." She explained. "It's not an easy thing for me to mention, I know, but I don't want you to not get a decent enough job when you leave here."

"I can manage without any grades." Jess went to leave. "I can get a good job without them."

"Oh? And get a job doing _what_ exactly?"

"Being a _table dancer_." She sharply turned away from her, and stormed out of the room.

"Jess…" Karen started.

But she was already _gone_.

...

Karen went home on her own, coming across Bex and Harry in the lounge together. "Is your sister home?" She peered round at them.

"She's upstairs, I think." Bex noted blankly.

She hesitantly stood outside her younger daughter's bedroom door. "Can I come in, Jess?"

No answer.

"Look, I know you're upset with me, but we have to talk. I don't want you leaving your final year with nothing and getting a dirty little job like…like _that_."

The door slowly opened. "It's not a dirty little job, mum. Some women can make really good livings out of it."

"But that's not what I want for _you_."

Jess opened the door more, her catlike eyes flitting to hers. "That's not your call to make, is it? What I do with my life and how I do it is none of your concern." She hadn't expected one of her admirers to write a message back to her, and it prompted a message box to flash up on her laptop screen.

Karen noticed the glow from behind her. "What's that?"

"One of my mates…" She made to lie again, closing the laptop's lid shut in order to hide what she was _really _on.

She couldn't help but take in her slight secrecy. "If it was one of your mates, then why are you hiding it from me?" She came closer to her, wanting to know more. Without so much as a request for her to see, she prised the laptop out of Jess's grip and had a look for herself.

She swallowed hard, deciding to peer down at the floor and not want to see what expression her mother was left with.

"Jess…what on earth are you playing at?" She asked her, horror-struck. "Do you realise how old you have to be to access sites like this?"

Jess said nothing, but twirled some of the long parts of her hair with her fingers.

"Answer me, young lady."

She shook her head dimly.

"You are not to use this anymore, young lady." Karen started shakily. "This is going to be wiped clean of any other places you've been to. And then you get straight back into catching up with your stuff before your exams."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I will not have one of my daughters turned into a _slut_."


	6. Chapter 6

Jess felt anger sear through her at what her mother was going to label her as. How dare she even _suggest _that table dancers were anything like that!

She decided enough was enough, and she gotten ready to go out.  
>That was her answer for dealing with things like that. And she had a very covert way of slipping out unnoticed, by climbing out through her bedroom window.<p>

"You do realise mum's going to kill you." Harry noted, as he noticed her sliding the window open to get ready to climb out.

"And I guess you're going to _tell _her." She shot back.

He shrugged. "One day you might not ever come back. So no, I don't think I _will_ tell her." And he carried on down to his own room.

...

Chris heard his mobile go off; he wasn't doing anything particularly important, but he wasn't expecting anyone to call him. "Karen…everything ok?"

"Not really." She didn't sound too good, which worried him. "I need someone to talk to."

"O-ok." He sat up, not knowing what else to say. "Well, say whatever you _wanna_ say. I'm not going anywhere and I wasn't doing anything particularly _special_."

"Jess is worrying me all the more now."

"R-really?" He frowned. "How so?"

"I know it was none of my business, but I caught her looking at adult dating sites. Not only that, but she'd been signing herself up for them."

"Oh." He was already aware that Jess had been doing those things, but he explicitly told her not to do it again. He was slightly concerned that she hadn't done as he'd told her. "Karen, that's not good."

"I tried talking to her, but she got so defensive that I ended up confiscating her laptop off her."

"That probably might not do it." Chris started. "She's more likely to go on someone else's and continue doing it. And you said you tried talking to her?"

"Well, I said what _you_ said. She didn't like the fact that you told me about her failing that paper."

"But…" He moved his gaze to the floor. "What more could I have _done_? Do nothing and let it blow over? I don't want her failing."

"I understand why you came and told me, Chris, and I'm very thankful that you did that. You did the right thing. But I think she could do something else."

"But she won't." He tried to assure her. "She's not the sort to do anything extreme, you know that yourself."

"I just have a horrible feeling that she _might_." Karen admitted.

"Ok, so what do you want _me_ to do about it?" He wanted to know.

...

Chris didn't realise how dark it had gotten; he drove out towards Karen's place, but a somewhat familiar if not subtly uncommon sight for a Tuesday night caught his attention.  
>He wound his window down, as he drifted fairly close to the straying person. "You wanna get in the car, Jess?"<p>

She stopped and looked over at him shakily. "Why are you around here?"

"Your mum called me. She wanted me to come round and talk to you." He took in what she was wearing. "But I'm guessing you didn't have any intention of staying at home tonight."

She shook her head, refusing to get in.

"You're not making this easy for me nor anyone else." He stated. "If you don't do as I say, I'll carry on to your mum's and tell her that you're not even there."

Jess resignedly got in the front passenger side of Chris's car. "I don't see why she's got you running around for her."

"Well, believe it or not, I'm glad that she _has_ got me running around for her this time." He smoothly pulled away from the kerb.

"Why, so you can humiliate me all the more by failing every single mock test I do?"

"Now that was just a one-off, Jess. Next time that won't happen." He assured her. "And secondly, I didn't intend on humiliating you, I was actually marking you properly and you didn't answer any of what I set you correctly."

She didn't seem so sure. "What makes you sound so sure about that?"

"Because I'm _helping_ you, remember?"

She gazed down at what she was wearing. "Mum will still find out I went out."

They pulled up outside the house.

"Well, even so, I did _stop _you." Chris turned round to look at her. "So what did I tell you about going on adult dating sites? I explicitly told you to stop that."

Jess drew in a deep breath and lowered her gaze to the floor. "I know you told me to stop, but I just can't."

"Which is why I'm helping you." He twisted the key out of the ignition. "As soon as we get in, you go straight upstairs and make yourself more…presentable." He noticed her slight scowl at him. "Once you do that, your mum and I can talk to you. This needs sorting out."

Karen answered the door to Chris, with Jess in tow behind him. "Where did you find her?"

"On her way into the city centre." He explained, as she let them both in. "Good job I came across her, else I may have _missed _her a minute later."

She noticed her daughter's sheepish expression.

"Do what I told you to, yeah?" He noted softly. "Then we'll both have a talk with you."

"What exactly did you tell her?" Karen wanted to know, as Jess quickly went upstairs.

"I told her to get out of what she was wearing…she wasn't intending on staying here tonight." He raised an eyebrow in concern. "How often does she slip out like this?"

"I-I don't know…I don't usually make a point of checking up on her." She admitted slowly. "I know I _should _have, in hindsight."

He nodded steadily. "I guess you haven't as you suppose she's at the age where supervision isn't really necessary anymore."

She took him into the lounge. "Thank you for finding her _again_ and taking her back here."

Chris shrugged. "Just…lucky in finding her, I guess."

They were both aware that Jess _hadn't _come back down.

She turned to him steadily. "Should I go up and see her?"

"She'll come down. She knows I won't go anywhere till she does so."

...

Eventually, about ten minutes later, Jess came down.

"Sit down, Jess." Karen's voice came out thick yet slightly faded.

She did so, trying to avoid both of their worried gazes on her.

She turned to Chris shakily. "What do you think we should talk about first?"

He didn't seem so sure. "Well, I mean the fact that she's been on those sites has made this all come about." He gazed over at the redhead. "If…you feel ok talking about that."

She shook her head dimly. "I don't know…I don't think I feel ok talking about that."

"Ok…" He flitted his gaze to Karen. "I don't wanna have either of us forcing her to say something she doesn't want to. She might not say anything altogether that way."

"What _are_ you, a shrink?" Jess shot out at him, not really fazing him at her outburst.

"Chr – I mean Mr Mead is here to help you, Jess." She stated softly. "You're not doing what _I_ say, but for some reason you're doing what _he _says."

"What do you expect, he's a _teacher_." She retorted.

Chris smiled to himself. "There you go then." He gazed over at Karen, as if to have a word with her in private.

She took him outside in the hall, making sure Jess couldn't hear them. "Does that mean she sees you as more of an authority figure than…_me_?"

"Don't take that personally." He reassured her. "I can't see us leaving this the way it is, though." He thought for a few minutes. "I _have _got an idea, but whether it'd work or not, I don't know."

Karen came closer to him. "You're not thinking of sending her for counselling, are you?"

"No, don't worry about that." He smirked. "If she was _really_ that bad, then I _would_. As she sees me as more of an authority figure, it might help if only _I _teach her."

"Are you sure that'll work?"

"I don't know, I've never _tried_ it." He admitted loosely. "But as long as her _other _teachers are aware that I would give her one-to-one teaching, there'd be no problem. All they would need to do is give her what they set up for the other people in her set. That way she won't miss out, and she won't have any distractions."

She smiled to herself. "And there was me thinking you were good in all _other_ subjects."

He laughed a little. "Well, the other teachers would have their work cut out for them, wouldn't they?" He quipped. "But on a more serious note, I can't see any other way we can help her."

She lowered an eyebrow. "We _could _stick her on pastoral care…"

"Not if she's in her _final year_." Chris stated. "And look at it this way – for all the blank sets _I_ have, she can end up with me so she actually _does _work."

Karen nodded softly. "I really hope this'll work."

"It _will_." Or at least he'd _make_ it work. "Trust me, it will."


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N – Thanks for all R & Rs much appreciated!_

_xXx  
><em>

The next day.

Jess was _already _struggling with the questions Chris had set her; he had a free set and so did she, so she was able to stay with him for the full hour and a half.

He peered over at her from where he was perched at his own desk at the front. "How are you coping over there?"

"I can't do it."

He smirked a little. "Come on, Jess, you've only been in here ten minutes and already you're thinking of giving up?" He went back to his marking, half-focussing on that. "I had you down as someone who didn't do that so easily."

"I just…" She slammed her pen down irately. "The questions you've set me are too hard."

"Now don't pin this on me." He lifted his gaze from the paper he was marking. "The questions I set you are standard for your set. You're not concentrating. At least _try to_."

"Why are you making this so hard for me?" She cried out, sharply getting up out of her chair and making to leave.

"Jess, I'm not…"

"With everything else going on as well…" She went to get her jacket on, prompting Chris to frown and come up to her.

"Everything else like what?" He placed his hands around her wrists.

"S-sir…please let me go."

"No, I'm not letting you go." He spoke softly, his bright blue eyes shimmering into hers. "I told your mum I'd be dealing with you separately, so only I owe a duty of care to you."

Jess managed to hold a few tears back from springing behind her eyes.

"I'm here to help you." He made her sit back down. "You've told me a bit more about why you're doing this, and something _is_ making you do it. At least try to explain what it is so I know how to help you more."

"I-I don't know…all of what's going on with mum, I guess."

He tilted his head attentively. "You wanna tell me what that is?"

She drew in a deep breath. "No one at the school knows except me, and she doesn't even know that _I _do." She gazed at him shakily. "Please don't tell her or do anything."

"Why would I do that?" Chris sat opposite her. "I'm not likely to do that if you receive one-on-one tuition with _me_, so don't worry."

She nodded slowly. "The reason I've been doing other things is that I want a _boyfriend_."

He smirked a little. "Well, you either won't do that or find someone who wants something _other _than to be one, if you carry on the way you are."

"I know, but if it meant me to not be alone…"

"That's still silly, Jess."

She said nothing, but peered down at the desk.

"Is that all this really is?" He couldn't help but feel suspicious. "It all seems rather petty in order to make you under perform like this."

"Well, no." Her answer prompted him to flit his gaze back to her. "Mum's been going off with someone lately."

"You should be happy for her, in that case." He softly noted. "She's been without anyone for quite some time, and I think she's very lucky to have someone – whoever they are."

Jess smirked to herself. "I wish I could feel the same way."

"Why don't you?" Chris sat back a little. "You're making it sound like it's someone you don't really _like_."

"That's because I _don't _like them." She wanted to go back to what she was writing all of a sudden. "Can we not get back to this?"

He shook his head. "Not when I've gotten you to talk as much as I have." He leant closer towards her. "I might not ever get this much out of you again. Try and talk some more."

"I don't think I wanna tell you who they are, though."

"Jess…" He started playfully. "I don't care if your mum is going off with the school _caretaker_, once you tell me, you'll feel better for it."

"That's because she _is_."

"She…what?" He got a little confused.

Jess felt the tears roll down her cheeks. "She _is_ going off with the caretaker."

"O-oh." Chris seemed shocked. "That isn't good."

"D-does that change things between you and her?"

"What? No!" He laughed a little, despite the revelation. "No…I don't feel _anything _for your mum. Don't worry, he's not got any competition from me."

"Then why do this?" She wanted to know, gazing down at her answer sheet. "Why go to all this for _me_?"

"Because I honestly wanna _help_ you. Isn't that reason enough?" He was slightly distracted at the fact that Karen was…going off with someone who _also_ worked at the school.  
>He wasn't jealous about it, of course not. But he <em>was<em> definitely worried.

"So it's not an attempt at trying to impress my mum then?" She assumed.

"Jess, if I felt _anything_ for your mum, I would've gone a different way about telling her how I felt. But I _don't_." He was mildly surprised that she thought he…_fancied_ her. If he was twenty-five years older, maybe. "There's someone _else _I like at the moment anyway."

"Someone _I _know?"

He shook his head dimly. "Oh. No, no one _you _would know of." He felt a small blush start at his cheeks, but he did very well to stop it from becoming too noticeable. "They're not likely to feel the same way at any rate."

Jess smiled softly.

"What?"

"You're too modest at times, do you know that?"

"Ok." Chris said finally. "Enough relationship advice for now. We've got to get back to this before I have to see your mum and try to convince her that this is working."

"I don't like these questions though." She pouted.

"Do you want _me _to help you out a little bit?" He suggested.

Her eyes widened. "_Really_?"

He nodded resignedly. "As long as you promise to me you'll do the next lot I give you _by yourself_, and I _mean_ by yourself."

She tilted her head attentively. "What's in it for me?"

Chris sat back a little. "Erm…well, hopefully it'd restore your confidence. That _was _the general idea that your mum and I had in mind."

She knew he was keeping something back.

"Ok, _and _your laptop your mum took from you." He smirked playfully. "She gave it to me to keep hold of, but she did throw that in as an incentive."

"Wow…" Jess breathed.

"But that's only if you pass your first mock test – _without_ any help." He warned.


	8. Chapter 8

That night.

Karen heard the front door open; she'd got in earlier than the kids, and she noticed Jess leaning against the lounge doorway. "How did you get on?"

She nodded slowly. "Ok, I guess."

"I just want you to know," the start of her sentence made her stop dead in her tracks and prevented her from going up the stairs to her room, "that just because you get one-on-one tuition from Mr Mead, you make things hard for him."

She frowned a little. "What do you mean? I got on really _well_ with him."

"Well, I just don't want you taking advantage of him." She noted.

"He hasn't gone _soft_ on me, mum, if that's what's bothering you." She went to carry on up the stairs, when her voice stopped her again.

"So getting him to help you with your first mock test isn't your way of taking advantage of him, then?"

Jess slowly turned to face her from her position on the stairs. "Is that what he said to you?" She knew that Chris was _more_ than happy to help her with her first one, and she didn't force him to do so. "Because that isn't what happened."

Karen decided to leave it at that. "Bex will be back soon so she'll be keeping an eye on you and your brother."

"Oh, what are _you_ not staying for then? Spending another night with the school caretaker again?"

Her eyes came over even icier than before. "That's _none_ of your business, young lady." She sharply turned away, allowing her to go upstairs.

Jess went to Harry's room, where he was sitting on his bed. "This is driving me crazy."

"What is?" He asked. "Having the same teacher keeping an eye on you or are you already getting sick of the nights out?"

"Neither." She turned to him sharply. "Mum's seeing someone."

"Tell me something I _don't _know."

"What?" She noted incredulously. "_You _knew about this as well?"

"Jess, _both _Bex and I knew. Mum hardly made it a secret when he came round to pick her up one night while you were upstairs on the net." Harry explained.

She flitted her gaze to the floor.

"When did _you_ find out?"

She shrugged. "I just _knew_. I put two and two together when I realised their closeness a few days after he started work there."  
>He smirked to himself. "Yeah, they hardly made <em>that <em>discreet."

"What do _you_ think about it all?" She wanted to know, just out of interest.

"Not thinking of spreading any rumours around the _school_, are you?" He sat up on his bed in a more upright position.

"No, but I'm not exactly _thrilled _for them."

"Why aren't you going out tonight?" Harry frowned.

Jess peered down at the few practise papers Chris had given to her to get on with. "Got all _this_ to be getting on with."

His eyes widened at the number of papers there were; there weren't _many_, around two or three, but surely…not in one night. "He hasn't got you to do that in _one night_, has he?"

"No, only a few days or so." She shrugged. "He's trying to be _fair _on me, you know."

...

Thursday morning.

Chris jumped a little as he heard knocking at his door; Jess slowly came in, peering over at him.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." He stopped what he was doing, watching her come over to him. "You know you haven't got a set with me for another three-quarters of an hour."

She nodded. "I know. But I wanted to give this to you now."

"And what is _this_ exactly?" He quipped, as she handed one of the answer papers over to him. "Don't tell me you completed one _already_."

"Well…" She peered down at the floor. "I don't have my laptop, do I? I wasn't as easily distracted as I would have been…plus mum had gone out, so…"

Chris skimmed through the answers she'd written with the tip of his pen.

"You don't have to go through it _now _if you've got _others_ to mark..."

"I don't mind. I know all the answers anyway for this one." He stopped where he was, making sure he didn't lose his place. "You didn't have to complete this in one full night, Jess."

"I just wanted to get on with it…"

"Fair enough." He carried on where he left off, coming to the end of it. "I can't fault you for wanting to get on with it, after everything you'd said."

Jess didn't want to know if he passed her or not, and she felt _very _nervous as he wrote something at the end of the paper.

"You wanna sit down a minute?" He asked her.

She shakily sat down, suddenly thinking that she _didn't_ do that well at all, and she'd let him down, big time. "I'm sorry…"

"For what?"

"Not doing that well. _Again_."

"Who said anything about you not doing that well?" Chris slid her marked answer sheet down in front of her. "You shouldn't beat yourself up all the time, you know. Cut yourself some slack for once."

She flicked through the paper. "I-I don't understand."

"Why don't you?" He smiled softly. "You got them all right."

Jess peered down at what he wrote at the very end of the last answer she gave: "_Perfect! 100%_"

"And on top of _that_…" He slid himself away from the desk slightly, taking something considerably compact out of his bottom drawer. "You can now have _this _back."

"My _laptop_." She breathed, thankfully taking it from him.

"Well, I wanted to keep my end of the bargain." Chris noted, feeling a small glow inside at making her happy.

"Thank you." She stated breathlessly. "I don't know how I can make it up to you."

"Erm, well hopefully by carrying on doing as well as you _have _done." He went to go back to what he was doing, when a thought occurred to him. "So I take it the other ones haven't been done yet?"

"No. I did spend ages on that one though."

"I hope I'm not making them too hard for you." He teased playfully.

"I still get enough time to…complete them, don't I?"

"Yeah, of _course _you do, don't worry about that." He clicked his pen open again. "As long as you complete them by at least Wednesday next week, then that's ok."

Jess went to leave him to his marking, when she stopped at the door. "This is going really well."

Chris peered up at her again. "I'm glad this is working out so well." He looked over at the time. "Remember to come back here in half an hour."

She nodded, smiling softly. "Thank you, sir."

"Jess, you don't have to call me that if it's just you and I." He put forward to her. "And we're getting on better now." He wasn't implying that the two of them were in any way _together_, but they _had _gotten closer.

"Y-you're still my teacher though – aren't you?"

"Sure I am." He smiled playfully, tilting his head slightly. "But because you're under _my_ tuition, we're both playing things _my_ way."

She nodded slowly.

"And if we're to play this my way, then the formal stuff's out of the window." He noted. "No more "sir" or "Mr Mead", ok? We're on a _personal_ level now."

"B-but the other students you have…"

"The other students I have, _have_ to deal with the formalities. Not _you_." He was getting worried that people may see them both alone together. "You'd better go before I end up having no break left."


	9. Chapter 9

Chris couldn't help but worry as Jess was sitting at her desk, seemingly stuck on a question. He didn't want to do nothing about it, as firstly she did very well in her mock test and secondly there were bound to be a few things she would've had trouble with. "You ok there?"

She drew in a deep breath, feeling tears form behind her eyes.

He got out from behind his desk, placing himself _directly_ beside her. Unsure of how to make her feel any better, he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Come _on_, it's not the end of the world if you're stuck…"

"It isn't that."

"…Then what is it?" He squeezed her there a little. He watched a stray long scarlet wisp slide from behind her ear, and he softly folded it back again to where it should've been. "Hey, it's ok…"

"No, it isn't." She wept out, prompting him to sit down next to her.

"Jess, whatever it is…I can make this all better for you. That's why I'm here." He twirled the end of the long wisp around his index finger, taking in the shimmer the light from the windows produced. "Don't feel like you can't tell me, because it seems to be tearing you apart."

"M-me and Vicky…"

Chris tilted his head attentively.

"We're not mates anymore."

"Well, _I _wouldn't see that as a bad thing." He noted. "She only gave you a distraction. And you're doing better now than you were when you were in here with her."

She nodded dimly.

"What makes you think you aren't mates with her anymore?"

Jess swallowed hard. "We had a massive row one night at a bar…"

Why didn't _that_ surprise him?

"She called me desperate."

He smirked a little. "Seems like an odd thing to wanna _call _you. I wouldn't go as far as saying you were desperate, Jess." He gently wiped an escaping tear from her cheek as it rolled down it. "You're just misguided."

"M-misguided?"

He nodded softly. "Sure." He thought for a few seconds. "Are you up to anything tomorrow night?"

She felt her heart leap a little. Chris wasn't…_asking her out_, was he? "I _was _going to go out with Vicky…" She lowered her gaze to the desk. "Fat chance of that happening now."

"Don't worry about _her_." He placed a hand on her back. "Is there anything you like doing on a Friday night? _Aside _from getting out of your face."

"B-but…not if you're my _teacher_." She hadn't forgotten what had gone on between them before.

"I think you can afford to go out _one_ night with me as a _friend_." He smiled softly. "And your mum doesn't have to know. As if _she's_ doing anything moral _herself_."

"B-but you and I…I don't want us to…_do it_."

He laughed. "I'm not asking you out for _that_, Jess." He pulled her up against him. "You can come round to mine for a bit…maybe watch a film together or something. _Whatever _you want."

"We could get a chippie…"

He smirked playfully. "_Whatever_ you want." He reiterated. "Just keep this between ourselves for now, ok? We don't want anyone getting the wrong idea like _before_."

"I don't think my mum would let me go out."

Chris loosened his grip on her. "Let _me_ deal with your mum." He stated. "She'll _listen _to what I have to say. I've already made this one-on-one tuition work, so I'm obviously going to be in her good books."

...

Friday morning.

Chris loitered around the window in Karen's office after he handed her a drink.

She took it from him thankfully. "So the one-on-one tuition is going well, from what I hear."

"Oh…yeah. _Perfectly _well." He admitted.

"That's really good news, Chris." She smiled softly. "Well done."

"How are things with her at home?"

"Well, things at home _are_ slightly more bearable, I have to say." She stated. "Jess still spends time upstairs, but she's concentrating more on the practice papers you've been giving her. She _is_ behaving slightly better also."

"Good." He smiled. "That _was_ the intention."

"It wouldn't have happened without _you_."

Chris flitted his gaze to the floor before peering back up at her. "I was thinking, as she's done so well, she _could_ afford to have at least _one_ night out."

Karen frowned slightly. "You're not advocating her to _get drunk_, are you?"

"No, not at all, but I mean she can be allowed to go out with her mates." He suggested. "Especially on a Friday night."

"Well, I don't see why not." She supposed. "As long as she doesn't do anything stupid."

...

Later that afternoon, Jess waited outside Chris's room, as he opened the door to go and see her.

"Wow. You're getting very keen, aren't you?" He smirked playfully, stepping aside to let her in.

"So what did my mum say?" She wanted to know, as he closed the door behind them both.

He waited till she sat down at a desk. "She said you could go out for one night."

"Wow." She breathed. "What exactly did you _say _to her to get her to go along with it?"

"Well…nothing really." He took the other practice paper off her that she'd done. "She agreed that you've done really well to deserve it."

Jess blushed slightly, unable to stop looking at his perfect figure from behind as he went back to his desk at the front. She had to _stop_ feeling that way. _He_ didn't like her in that way, so why should _she_?  
>She felt herself drift off, thinking of all the things she <em>could <em>do with him. She couldn't feel that way…she couldn't…no.

"And another _perfect_ score." Chris took himself away from behind his desk and smoothly gave the practice paper back to her. "If you're not careful, you're going to give me nothing to _correct_ with these perfect scores all the time."

"What can I say, you're just a good teacher." She quipped, as he went back behind his desk.

A small blush appeared at his cheeks. "Ok, enough of us exchanging compliments, young lady. And get back to what you should be doing."

Jess did as she was told.

He peered over at her, as she focussed on writing the answers to the questions from the textbook he set her.  
>Why could he not stop a small warm feeling that gathered at his stomach and moved downwards to his legs?<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

Seven-thirty that night.

Chris answered his door to Jess, as he let her in through the front door. "That's probably the _nicest_I've ever seen you look."

She smiled playfully. "I'll take that as a compliment."  
>Of course, she had a hard time taking her eyes off him as he closed the door behind them and then locked it.<br>"So what's on the cards tonight?"

"Anything you _want_." He smiled softly. "Within certain _boundaries_, of course."

She smiled as he took her jacket from her.

"I didn't know if you felt like eating anything just yet," he admitted loosely, "unless you're hungry _now_…"

Jess felt her breath get taken away as he grabbed her wrist.  
>The contact…so close. So intimate. "N-no, I could probably hang on…" Something <em>else<em> was on her mind.  
>A rumble at her stomach sounded, proving her wrong.<p>

"You sure?" Chris smirked. "Sounds to me like you _are _hungry."

"Not if you aren't."

"I can go out and get us something if you want." He suggested. "If you were up for a chippie like you said you wanted to go for."

"If that's ok with you…"

"Sure it is." He removed his grip around her wrist. "You just stay there, relax and wait till I get back, ok?"

She curled up on the sofa, feeling herself drift off as she dimly heard the flat door open and then close.

The warmth was still there…almost as though he was still _touching _her.

****

Chris came back a few minutes later, and as he quietly came into the flat, he noticed Jess was curled up on the sofa, deeply asleep.  
>He positioned himself next to her, softly folding a stray, shiny scarlet wisp behind her ear from where it'd fallen. <em>Perfect again<em>, he thought to himself, taking in her still position.

"Chris…" She mumbled sleepily, as she felt something soft brush against her cheek. Her eyes heavily opened, fixing themselves on his soft, blue eyes. "Y-you've come back."

"Y-yeah…only just." He felt warm as she placed her hands on his wrists. "I-I should dish this out…"

"I guess." She agreed dimly, unable to take her eyes off him.

"We shouldn't." Chris stated quietly, knowing what she was planning on doing with him. "After last time…"

"I know we shouldn't." She admitted. "But after everything you'd done for me…"

He would've changed his mind right there and then as she cupped his face with one hand.

"I think I love you, Chris."

He swallowed hard. Maybe the quiet night in together _wasn't_ going to work.  
>Quickly, he tore himself away before anything extreme happened between them.<p>

Once they finished the takeout between themselves, they thought about watching a film together.

"I should have something _both_ of us would like." He stated. "And there's nothing _naughty_ in amongst all that, I'll have you know."

Jess shrugged playfully. "I didn't think there _would _be."

Once they decided on a film, they both sat, nestled up against each other. That sort of contact in itself was just _asking_for trouble.

"I'm sorry I feel this way towards you." She apologised, liking the warmth of his soft body against hers. "But I just can't help it."

"I know but you have to stop these feelings." Chris explained. "I don't feel the same way and you know that I don't."

"I think you're wrong."

"Well, I'm not." He inched a little further away from her. "I'm not wrong and I know the way I feel. What I feel for you is _not_ love, Jess. It never _was_."

She was shocked at what he was saying.

"Maybe the night in together wasn't such a good idea." He admitted faintly. "For all I know, we could end up _kissing_ each other or…doing a lot more besides _that_."

"I'm sorry."

"I think you should go, Jess…" He spoke shakily. "I-I'll see you at school on Monday, ok?"

Jess stood outside; it was slightly cold and there was an icy breeze in the air. She whipped out her mobile, already thinking of calling one of the people she talked to on one of the dating sites.

She stopped. What was she getting herself into? And Chris had _already _warned her not to go into doing that ever again.

"Hi there, gorgeous." A voice came from behind her.

She sharply turned round, noticing a fairly older male come up to her. "What do _you_ want?"

"_You_."

She cried out when he grabbed hold of her and went to pull her into the alleyway literally around the corner. "Stop that, let go of me!"

"What's going on out here?" A familiar voice spoke out from behind them, and the male's grip on her loosened slightly, but didn't completely let go of her. "Let go of her."

Jess was shaking slightly, almost sure that whoever was trying to help her was going to end up on the ground and she was going to be whisked back into the alleyway and subsequently…_assaulted_.

A scuffle between the three of them ensued, and eventually the offending male let go and fled.

She dropped to the floor, too overcome with fright to notice what had happened.

"It's ok now, he's gone." An arm wrapped around her from behind, pulling her up against the warmer, softer body. "Good job I chased after you."

"C-Chris, you didn't have to come out and do that…"

"I didn't know he was _there_, Jess." He rubbed her down her back with his other hand. "It wasn't as though I couldn't _deal_ with it."

She smiled softly, as they remained pressed up against each other. "I'd better get going, I guess."

"You don't have to." Chris spoke bluntly. "You can stay for a bit if you want…"

"Not if we're liable to do anything with each other."

"Enough of that." He carefully helped her up, understanding that she was still shaken after that attack. "I don't think you're in _any_ state to be going back on your own just yet."


	11. Chapter 11

Chris helped Jess to sit back down in his flat, as he sat next to her. "You feel any better now?"

She nodded dimly. "I guess so."

"You sure?" He placed a hand on her back, rubbing her there slightly. "He didn't _touch_ you, did he?"

"I don't think so."

"I don't want you covering up for him, Jess." He warned. "That won't get you anywhere."

"I've _told_ you, haven't I? Nothing happened." She sharply pulled away from him, getting up in an attempt to avoid any further contact. She'd hoped he'd suddenly changed the way he felt towards her, but he obviously hadn't if he was accusing her of _lying_.

"I just wanna be sure, that's all." Chris got up, going over to her and placing his hands on her arms. "I don't want you hurt."

Jess said nothing, but felt the contact send a jolt through her; not only that, but he pressed his body into her back from behind. That was contact that was causing her to ache inside.

"If I _ever_ let you get hurt…" He made her turn to look at him, taken aback at a few tears glistening in her eyes. He gasped at the sight of it. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I don't know why you act like this."

"Act like what?"

She shook her head dimly. "Like you can flick yourself on and off like a _switch_." She noticed him tilt his head attentively, as if it was something he _wanted_ to hear from her. "That isn't fair on me, Chris." She made to go, when he didn't let go of her wrist and pulled her back towards him.

"No, Jess, it _isn't _fair on you and I'm sorry." He quietly noted, prompting her to gaze at him shakily. "I'm sorry I get so confused with my feelings."

"Don't do it." She quietly protested, although inwardly waiting for him to kiss her. "Unless you really want it."

"I _do_ want it." Chris slid up against her, moving his hands to her hips. "I've wanted it for a _very _long time."

"I thought you like your women _grown up_." Jess quipped teasingly, shivering all over as he cupped her face and skimmed a thumb over her cheek.

"But you _are_ grown up," he noted, his bright blue eyes melting into hers, "enough for _me_, anyway."

Their lips softly connected, and she closed her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her. She gasped as his lips pressed into her neck, and raked her fingers through the dark hair at the back of his head.

They swiftly withdrew, breaking the kiss.

"How was that?" Jess asked him, sensing his body quiver with excitement against her.

"Good…_really_ good." He faintly admitted, as she stroked him under his jaw, drawing him further into her. "I don't wanna sound like a _perv_, but…"

She smiled softly. "You wanna take this somewhere else?"

He nodded shyly. "I was thinking maybe we could take this further in _bed_."

The two of them wrapped themselves around each other, and she leant on top of him, lowering her lips down onto his for a soft kiss.

"So how does that compare with last time?" She asked him teasingly.

"Oh…_certainly _better." Chris felt the pleasure course through him as waves that almost sent him to sleep. Never before had he felt so good after making love to anyone else. "You aim to please."

Jess smiled seductively, tracing the faint line of his sternum downwards with her index finger. She looked over at the time, feeling her muscles ache at the thought of having to go back home and to sleep in her own bed with no one else. "I really wish I didn't have to go back _there_."

"You don't have to." He pulled her closer to him, obviously enjoying the contact between them. "If you wanna stay, you can."

She gazed into his bright blue eyes, taken aback at the warmth in them for what colour they were. "But I don't want mum finding out about us."

"Jess, we can do this without your mum finding out." He assured her. "She just doesn't have to know who you're with."

"But you should know her better than anyone, Chris." She stated. "She has her ways of getting the truth out of people."

"Well, she can try her luck." He smirked playfully. "She won't find out, you have my word."

She closed her eyes as Chris softly kissed the top of her head; she nestled her nose against his chest, taking in a seductively sweet yet musky scent on his skin.

He raked his fingertips through her long, perfectly straight red hair, feeling the exhaustion from the excitement catch up with him. "We should go to sleep now."

Jess gazed up at him, pouting slightly.

He couldn't help but find that funny, if not a little cute. "What's that look for?"

"Are you not up for another go?"

He laughed a little. "You're like a _rabbit_. I've never known anyone like you." He was gradually finding it hard to keep his eyes open. "I'm getting fairly _tired_. Plus, I _work_ and you _don't_, so I have a _reason_ to be tired."

"Going to school is work though."

"If you wanna be _technical_ about it." Chris went to turn the lights off. "Close your eyes now."

She nestled closer to him as he switched the lights off, pulled the blankets over both of them and then both went to sleep together.

The next morning.

Chris woke up in amongst the sunlit blankets; he recoiled a little at feeling the bright rays hit his eyes, and it took him a short time to adjust to it.

He sensed a warm body nestled up against his, and he peered to his right side, seeing Jess pressed up to him, with her arms wrapped around him.

She stirred slightly in her sleep, as he gently swept her long red hair back; it was _unbelievably_ long, and he was sure that since he'd _known_ her, she hadn't had it cut. Not that it _bothered _him; he always liked her hair like that, as it was in such _immaculate _condition and felt like silk as he touched it.

Her eyes fluttered open and she peered up at him dimly.

"You're awake then." He smiled softly, watching her sit up in bed and rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"What's the time?"

"Just gone ten." Chris placed a hand on her back. "I didn't know when you wanted to go back to your mum's…"

"I don't wanna stay here any longer than I should."

"It's not a problem." He smirked. "Stay for as long as you want."

Jess peered out of the window. It was an extremely nice day, _outwardly_. She betted any money that as soon as they both got out, it would be colder than it seemed.

"We can go out somewhere if you wanted to." He suggested, almost instinctively reading her mind. "Being as it _is_ a sunny day."

"But…_where_?"


	12. Chapter 12

The sun came out in full force as Chris made to get up.

Jess couldn't help but admire his seductively slender body as he dressed himself. "Not bad." She smirked flirtily.

"Me? No." He looked away shyly. "I think you've got me confused with someone else."

"I wouldn't say no."

Once he got fully dressed, he sat back over with her, folding her long red hair back over her shoulder, where it then proceeded to drape down her back. Immaculately beautiful, he thought to himself. "So why aren't _you_ up then?" He teased.

She shrugged playfully. "Well, I don't think you're _paid_ enough to discipline me for not getting out of bed when I should."

"Oh, and is that a _fact_?" Chris took hold of Jess's wrists, as he started to pull her out from in amongst the blankets. She _did_ look quite comfortable there, and he couldn't help but find her pouting amusingly cute as he succeeded in removing her. "Come on now, young lady."

"But I don't even have anything to _wear_as it's so nice out." She noted to him.

He seemed pensive. "Yeah, _that's_ a problem." He looked around his room. "I don't think you wandering around in a _towel _would look too good."

She shook her head, smiling slightly.

"I might have to drop you back to yours so you can go and get something to change into." He supposed. "If…you don't _mind_ doing that."

"If that's the only way, that's the only way."

"But you're going to have to do it without me being there." Chris suggested. "In case someone's there and they see _me_ or the car."

Jess nodded slowly. "So how do I go round there at all?"

He gazed at her carefully. "I'll drop you off round the corner from where you live. If I come back here, would you be ok to come back also?"

"Should be…" She didn't seem so sure. "It's going to take a lot of convincing on my part as to explaining to my mum where I was the night before and where I'd be going _then_."

"The worst thing you could do is to tell her the _truth_." He inched closer to her, their bodies _so_ achingly close to each other. "I'd rather you say that you were with someone _fictional _and then go on to say that you were going out with them. But whatever you do, Jess…" His hands edged further up her arms, and he pressed his thumbs into the creases at the insides of her elbows. "Do _not_ say that you've been out with _me_."

"Ok." She agreed. "I won't tell."

"Just as _I_ didn't tell your mum when I _found _you that time."

"Will there ever come a time when either of us would tell her what we've been up to?"

He seemed unsure. "I…don't exactly _know_. I didn't expect us to end up like this."

"But you don't regret it…right?"

"No." He pulled her up against him. "Of course not."

Within ten minutes, Chris dropped Jess round the corner from hers in his car. "You know how long you might be?"

She had to think. "Ten…fifteen minutes."

"Ok." To him, that wasn't that long. "I'll see you back at mine then, ok?"

She nodded, getting ready to get out of the car, when he placed a hand around her wrist to stop her.

"You do remember how to get to my place from here, don't you?"

"Chris…" She laughed a little. "I'll be fine. I don't need a map."

He pulled her closer to him, and their lips connected softly before probing deeper into each other's mouths.

Jess felt her breath get taken away as they withdrew. He sure knew how to _kiss _her!

"I just want you to be careful." Chris noted tenderly, his bright blue eyes shimmering temptingly in the sunlight. "Hardly any guys you've been with have _ever_ thought about saying that, but I _do_."

"Y-you really feel that strongly for me?" She gasped out.

He nodded softly. "You'd better go before anyone sees us."

She exited from his car, feeling a warm, tingly sensation glow inside her as she walked down the road to the house.

He went to pull away, but he kept a watchful gaze on her as she disappeared down the road; he admired her curvaceous figure from behind, almost mesmerised by her long red hair fluttering behind her. How something so subtle as that could be hypnotic was _beyond_him.

Waiting till she'd fully gone, he turned round in the road and drove back to his so he could wait for her to come back.

Jess got in to the house, and almost had the fright of her life as she noticed her mother in the hallway. "Were you expecting me?" She assumed, hoping that she _didn't _notice Chris dropping her off.

"I was expecting you since _last night_." Karen stated, her eyes coming over icy. "But I guess given your recent performance at school, I shouldn't really be as hard on you as I _have_ been."

She nodded slowly, as she made to go upstairs.

"You've got a letter, you know." She handed her the small envelope, surprising her as to what it could've been. "Probably junk mail, as that's what we always seem to get these days."

Jess frowned slightly. "I'll open that…upstairs." She mumbled out, as she did so.

"Are you off out soon?" She asked her.

She stopped at the top of the stairs. "Yeah…fairly soon." She gazed at her carefully, trying to work out the sudden leniency she'd possessed. "Why do you ask?"

"Only because I'm taking Bex and Harry out to the centre later." Karen tilted her head attentively. "If you wanted to tag along as well, feel free."

She smiled a little. "I promised my boyfriend I'd meet up with him."

"So you have a new boyfriend, do you?" She came closer to the foot of the stairs. "Anyone nice?"

She nodded slowly. "Y-yeah…he's _very _nice." She suddenly found the printed stamp on the envelope more interesting than looking down into her mother's icy stare.

She nodded softly. "As long as you're careful with him."

"We're _very_ careful, mum." Jess turned away and hastily locked herself in her room; she tore the envelope open and pulled the neatly folded-up letter out from inside so she could read it.

"Dear Jess,

Thank you for submitting your covering letter and recent photo of yourself to us.

After some deliberation, we would like to offer you a short-term modelling contract with us. It would only be for a few weeks, but it may lead onto other opportunities after your contract with us is up.

We will contact you within a few weeks of this letter, either by phone or by post.

We look forward to having you work with us."

She disbelievingly folded the letter back up in its creases, and slipped it back into the envelope.

She'd just gotten on better at school and also got herself a _boyfriend _– notwithstanding who he was or what his connection to her was.

And how would _he _take that news?


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N – thanks for all R & Rs!  
>More chapters to come!<em>

_I wasn't expecting to squeeze so much of this out; I don't know where it all comes from!_

_xXx  
><em>

Chris answered the door to a very subdued-looking Jess. "You took your time." He noted.

"I know…I'm sorry." She realised she was five minutes later than she promised him, but at least she was there.

"At least you look more presentable for me to take you out." He was slightly distracted by her quietness, and he placed a hand on her arm as she went to walk away from him. "Jess, what's wrong?"

She gazed up at him, noticing his concerned expression. A slight frown appeared on his face, and he was making no immediate attempt to let her go. "Nothing."

"It seems like there _is_." Chris loosened his hold on her, but came closer to her. "I don't want you to keep something that's bothering you to yourself. We're a couple, aren't we? And couples do talk about things that bother them."

Jess managed to come up with something before he laboured the point any further. "Just…my mum giving me problems."

"_Still_?" He wasn't at all surprised, although he didn't know she was telling him a complete and utter lie to his face. "Well, don't worry about it. You're old enough to make your own decisions."

She nodded dimly, feeling a wave of guilt crash over her at the fact that she'd lied to him and he knew nothing about it.

"I think we should go now." He added. "Before the sun decides to hide."

Chris didn't drive out to anywhere _particularly_ far away, but it was somewhere that Jess had _never_ been to.

"So is this a _frequent _place you go to?" She wanted to know, as he parked up.

"Well…I don't come here as often as I'd _like_." He admitted, gazing round at her. "I guess probably as I didn't have anyone to _take_ with me."

She smiled softly, placing a hand on his thigh. "Well, you do _now_."

He nodded in agreement. "I might be doing this a lot more often then, in that case."

They kissed a little, before pulling away.

"So apart from the change in scenery," she started, "was there _another_ reason for taking me out here?"

He shook his head. "No, apart from it being such a nice day."

As soon as Jess got out, Chris quickly went round to her side and took her hands with his.

"I love you." He admitted, his voice quivering slightly. "You know that, don't you?"

She nodded slowly. "You _know_ I do."

They sat down, not too far away from the quayside, taking in the fresh sea air and watching the sun's rays glisten against the water.

He took in her form, as her long, glossily straight red hair was swept back by the gentle sea breeze. It was a beautiful sight, almost angelic, as he found himself getting lost in her catlike eyes.

She must've been aware he was looking at her like that, as she turned round to look back at him. "What?"

Chris swallowed hard. "Nothing." He ducked his head down, before stealing another look at her. "I just like looking at you."

Jess felt herself blush at his comment.

"I've _always_ liked looking at you."

She couldn't help but find what he said adorably _coy_. He was being so modest about the way he felt towards her, that there must've been another reason for taking her out all that way, other than going up there for the fresh air.

"I'm not really a sea person," he admitted slowly, "but there's something romantic about watching a few boats go by when it's as sunny as this."

She nodded a little, before lowering her gaze to the ground.

"This not your thing?" Chris fretted that it was something she didn't _want_, and he wasn't sure how to go about making it better for her if that were the case. He tilted his body towards her to show his attention was on her, but she wasn't registering.

"It's not about this, I like being out here."

"…But…" He knew there was a "but" coming into the conversation somewhere.

"I wasn't being completely honest with you earlier." Jess hesitantly zipped her bag open and fished out the envelope she'd received that morning. "Something _was_ bothering me and I thought I could hack it on my own. But I now realise that I couldn't and I feel it only fair to show you."

"You're making it sound like it's something bad, Jess."

"I don't know. It's neither good _nor _bad."

"Oh." Chris smirked to himself. "In between, is it?"

She tried to smile, as she unfolded the letter for him to read and see for himself.

"I don't get any of that." He admitted softly.

She nodded slowly. "I applied for a few modelling contracts. I wasn't expecting anyone to get back to me."

"But why not?" He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Jess, you're _beautiful_. I don't see why _anyone _shouldn't like you."

"It feels wrong for me to go ahead with all of it now though."

"Why do you feel like that?" He wanted to know. "Is it because that things with us are taking off, or is it because you're doing so much better with only me teaching you?"

Jess shrugged. "A combination of the two. Maybe more."

"You know I would support you through this." There was _no_ hesitation as he said that, and he was definitely not kidding as his bright blue eyes glistened into hers. "And we would always try and get preparation in for the final exams."

"B-but mum would know _everything_…" She noted weakly, feeling tears build up behind her eyes.

Chris _hated_ to see her upset, and he would've hated _himself_ not to let her take up the opportunity to do something she _always_ wanted. "Your mum doesn't have to know _anything_. About the _relationship, _about _this_…I will not mention to her anything about this." He assured her. "I know what her reaction is likely to be if she knew, but she won't."

"She'll think I'm _dirty_…"

"…To take on a modelling contract?" He smirked. "Unless they're getting you to do something _particularly_ dodgy like stripping off, then I wouldn't blame her for thinking that way. But you're not doing anything like that."

She shook her head, feeling the tears start to fall.

"Jess…" He did _not_ want her to give that up. "…This is something you've always wanted. Don't throw something you've always wanted away."

"What if I don't _have_ any time to prepare for the exams?"

"You _will_, I'll work something around this." He insisted. "This might be your only shot."


	14. Chapter 14

Later that night.

"Have the agency said they'll get back to you?" Chris asked Jess, as he went to see her out after dropping her at the end of her road.

She nodded. "They said they would get back to me within a few weeks of that letter."

He smiled softly. "Good." He grabbed hold of her wrist as she went to get out completely. "Please don't throw this opportunity away, Jess. I want you to _get _this."

She nodded softly. "Ok."

"And I'll see you at school on Monday, ok?" He pulled her back into the car for a kiss.

"O-ok." She felt her lips mash against Chris's, before deepening and probing in search of something more stimulating. She heard him gasp softly as she slid her tongue against his in his mouth.  
>He tasted so sweet as she withdrew from him.<p>

A blush formed at his cheeks, and his eyes misted over shyly. "Before your mum sees us…" He started.

"I don't really wanna be lonely in bed tonight." Jess purred, her hands on his thigh, as she peered up at him longingly.

"I know, and neither do I." He admitted. "But things might change, mightn't they?"

"Would that be a _good_ thing, though?" She asked him softly.

Chris said nothing to that at first, but pressed his lips to the top of her head, taking in a fresh scent on her hair. It was a scent he _liked_. "Whatever happens, we will stay _together_."

Monday morning.

Jess came to see Chris before it was the start of the day; she went to knock on the door but he saw her coming and let her in before she had a chance to do so.

"You don't have to knock to come in."

"But the other students do…"

"Yeah, well, about that…" He towed her into his room, closing the door behind him as he backed her against it. "You're not just another _student_, are you?"

Her eyelids lowered in pleasure, as he gently placed a fingertip under her jaw and tilted her head up to look into his excited blue eyes.

"Remember, we're on the same level as each other." He spoke softly, pressing his body down onto hers. "So you don't have to do what _they_do."

"C-Chris…" She gasped out, as he swiftly closed his lips around hers in a passionate kiss. She closed her eyes, raking her fingertips through his dark bangs as his hands moved lower to her hips.

"We don't have to start for another _twenty minutes_." Chris brushed his nose playfully against hers, maintaining their close body contact. "So what we do between now and then is up to you."

"I-I don't want us to get caught."

"We won't if I lock the door…" He quickly twisted the key in the door's lock, so no one could get in. "…And I take you somewhere no one will _see_ us."

"And where would _that _be?" She wanted to know.

He tilted his head towards the cupboard door just behind him. "Take a wild guess."

Jess giggled, as he grasped her wrist and pulled her to him. "You are so naughty, Mr Mead." She called him that in a _teasing_ sort of way.

He smirked impishly; he could only look _cute_ as he did that. "I know, but I _like _being naughty at times."

Fifteen minutes passed.

Chris lay on top of Jess, his arm wrapped around her waist whilst her hands pressed into his back, keeping him as close to her as possible as they lay together on the floor.

The two of them were breathing quite heavily, before plunging their tongues into each other's mouths. They both whimpered at the hot feelings inside them.

She closed her eyes as he softly swept her long, glossy scarlet hair back from her face, allowing it to scatter quite prettily along the floor.

"I-I love you," he shakily stated, feeling his climax fade out, "never forget that."

She shook her head faintly. "I-I won't." She traced the outline of his strong shoulder blades with her index fingers. "I love you too."

He withdrew from her, feeling his muscles ache as he sat up.

"Were you really being serious about what you said with all this going on?"

"With the modelling and schoolwork combined?" When she nodded, he turned to face her more. "_Deadly _serious."

She inched closer to him, cupping his face with a hand. "I can't believe you're being ok with it."

Chris shrugged. "Why _shouldn't_ I be? You only get one life, you might as well _take_ chances like that when they come your way."

Jess nodded slowly. She hadn't expected him to say something like that.

"The number of times _I've _wanted to go for things, but never did." He thought back. "It wasn't as though I didn't make up for it either."

She didn't know where he was going with what he said.

"What I'm trying to get at, Jess, is that I don't want you to back out of doing this. I want you to go for it. To not make the same mistake _I_did." He placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it a little.

She shook her head softly, placing a hand on top of his.

"And I know I'm not making _another_ mistake by doing this with you." His voice quivered slightly, what from, she wasn't sure. "I'm _really_ in love with you."

"But my mum…if she _were_ to know, she wouldn't be anywhere near as supportive as _you_ are."

"Because she knows she'll lose her grip on you." He noted. "She knows that she already is, but that's something she's going to have to live with. You'll always be her little girl, but you know yourself you're much more than that. You're a _young woman _now. This is your life and only you can control it."

Jess heard her mobile vibrating in her jacket's pocket, and she hastily answered it. She was surprised to realise the modelling agency had _already_ called her back. "What time do you want me there?"

Chris made to get dressed, knowing that he had to get out of there before _anyone _could walk by and see him emerge from a storage cupboard with a rosy blush across his cheeks.

She came over pensive as she tried to think up a time she could get to the agency. Surely he wouldn't mind if she left his set with her five minutes earlier than usual? She decided to play it safe, deciding to settle on a time that wouldn't clash with any sets he had with her. "Three-thirty tomorrow…that's ok. See you then."

He pulled his trousers back up his legs, as she hung up. "I wouldn't have minded if you wanted to leave a set early so you can see them."

"I know, but I didn't wanna fall out of favour with you."

"Jess, you can _never_ fall out of favour with me." He smirked. "You're following your dreams. What _I _wouldn't give to do the same…"

"But you've always said this was what you wanted." Jess admitted.

"_This_ job?" He made sure his shirt was done up properly, after the number of times he didn't look at what he was doing. "Well, yeah, but there _are_ other things I wanna move on to eventually."

"Really, like what?" Jess wanted to know.

Chris coyly looked away. "Oh, you don't wanna know…it's something that'll never happen."

"With _that_ sort of attitude, it won't." She smiled. "Come on, tell away. I won't laugh."

"O-ok." He drew in a deep breath. "Promise you won't laugh."

"I promise."

He felt a blush coming. "I wanna move up from being a deputy head."

She smiled a little more. "You mean…you wanna do what my _mum _does?"

He nodded slowly. "Not in the same building, you understand. I don't wanna take over from her because that's unfair." He opened the door once she was fully dressed. "But it's something I've thought of now and again."

"I think you'd be a _brilliant _head teacher." Jess assured him.

Yep, his blush _definitely_ got redder. "You don't mean that."

"Chris…" Jess wrapped her arms around his slender waist. "I would be honest in saying that if I _loved _you. If there are other schools within this area, apply for positions like that. I'm sure you'd be sought-after."

"Well, at the moment I'm sought-after in other areas…" Chris noted suggestively.

"Enough _flirting_." She teased. "We should get out of this room before anyone sees us and I should take my place at my desk."


	15. Chapter 15

Jess stood outside the agency – she was surprised at the way the weather turned on her the way it did.  
>It was sunny one minute, and the next it'd teemed down with rain.<p>

"Something I can help you with?" A fairly tall, attractive-looking male (not that Jess had noticed…) emerged out of the door and took in her slightly soaked appearance.

"I'm looking for this place." She showed him the calling card, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh. You've come to the right place." He let her in. "Come into the warmth."

She thankfully sat down in the waiting area, whilst he vanished to find one of the consultants.

She cast her gaze to the walls, noticing the other models that the agency were looking after; most of the _female_ ones were very pretty and were so unbelievably slender.  
>For a few seconds, she didn't feel as though she was cut out for that sort of thing.<p>

Shakily, she got up and fled the agency before anyone was able to get back to her.

Another tear dropped onto the pillow.  
>Jess swept her bangs back, unable to get over why she suddenly felt like it was something she just couldn't <em>hack<em>.  
>Her mobile's screen flashed, notifying her that a message had come through, and she resignedly opened it.<p>

It was from Chris.

"_HOPE U GOT ON OK. LET ME KNOW ONCE U GET BACK. C XX_"

She swallowed hard, tossing her mobile to the far end of the bed. She couldn't exactly say she got on that _well_, as she didn't _see _anyone. But he had such high hopes for her and she didn't want to let him down by saying she never stayed around long enough.

Later on that night.  
>Karen leant against Jess's bedroom door panel, noticing that she'd curled herself up on her bed with her back to her. "So this boyfriend of yours..."<p>

"Just leave it out, mum." Her voice came out muffled as she buried her nose in the bed sheets. "I don't think I can be with him."

"_That _was short-lived." She positioned herself on the bed not too far away from her. "Or was that because you mentioned the three-letter word to him and scared him off?"

"I told you, just leave it out."

She raised an eyebrow at her defensiveness and got off the bed. "Well, you know where I'll be if you want any advice from me."

A few minutes later, another message flashed through onto Jess's mobile.

_Another one from Chris, no doubt_, she thought guiltily, opening the unread text.

"_JESS R U SURE EVERYTHING IS OK? WHY AREN'T U TEXTING BACK? XX_"

She decided to ease his worrying by replying back. "_EVERYTHING WENT OK. I'VE SEEN A CONSULTANT AND THEY'VE PUT ME ONTO A WAITING LIST. XX_"

Two minutes passed.

Another text.

"_JESS THAT'S REALLY GOOD WELL DONE! COME ROUND 2 MINE. XX_"

Chris opened the door to Jess ten minutes later. "Congratulations." He winked, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her into him. "See, I knew you could do it."

She blushed a little, as their lips softly brushed against each other before both shared a very deep kiss.  
>She placed her hands on his hips, their bodies pressed up against each other. "So what did you have on the cards for me that you so eagerly wished me to come over for?"<p>

"If you wish to follow me…" He smiled playfully, grabbing hold of her arm and towing her into the bedroom. "I will _show_ you."

Jess gasped faintly as the young male's hands drifted to her shoulders, peeling her jacket off her from behind. He did that so slickly it was something she undoubtedly _welcomed_. "You certainly know how to _impress_, don't you?"

"I like to _try_ to." Chris folded up her jacket on the floor, sidling back up to her. "But I'm not quite _done _with you just yet."

She was taken to the bed, and they sat on it together. They kissed quite coyly at first, before he withdrew from her.

"I don't wanna force you into anything, Jess," he started, "but for managing to do so well earlier, I thought I'd _treat_you to something."

She smirked. "I hope it's going to be something I _like_."

"Oh, I'm sure you will." He removed his t-shirt, before proceeding to undo the belt to his trousers and allowing them to slide down his legs. He noticed she was already going to do the same, but he placed his hands on her wrists. "That's for _me_ to do."

"Oh." Jess sounded surprised. "Well, I'd better let you take care of that then."

"_Hadn't_ you just?" He winked again, peeling her clothes off her in such a delicate yet intimate way.  
>He told her to lie down on her front on the bed, whilst he slid down onto her legs.<br>Placing his hands on the sides of her waist, he pressed his thumbs into her back, dexterously working into her flesh and eliciting pleasured, relaxed sounds from her.

She dimly closed her eyes, feeling a warmth travel from the top of her spine and then downward to her legs.

"You like this?"

Jess mumbled into the pillow as he took his touch further up to her shoulder blades after pressing into her spine. "Y-yeah…this feels good. This f-feels so…" Her sentence was cut off by him pressing his body into hers from behind. "…_Good_."

Chris slowly eased the relaxing manipulation off, prompting her to turn round to peer up at him.  
>He softly cupped her face with one hand, his bright blue eyes melting into hers. "I know of something <em>else<em> that'd feel _good_."

She gasped softly when his lips pressed against hers, demanding more contact; she readily accepted him, submitting to his every action as he slid himself on top of her.  
>She knew what was coming.<br>_He_ knew what was coming.

Yet neither of them could _stop_ it.


	16. Chapter 16

Tuesday morning.

Both Jess and Chris woke up together in amongst the sundrenched bed sheets. They gave each other a warm kiss, holding hands and allowing their fingers to interlock.

"I'd better get _used _to this," he remarked, twirling some slightly wavy scarlet wisps around his index finger, "waking up to a beautiful woman every morning."

They kissed again. Both were sure they could feel the remnants of their afterglow from the night before, throbbing and coursing through their bodies.

"C-Chris…" She started, as he rolled onto his back.

He flipped back onto his side, his gaze resting on her attentively.

"What we did felt good, right?"

"Sure it did." Chris wrapped his other arm around her waist. "Why, are you having second thoughts?"

"No, it's just that…" Jess hesitantly shied away from those penetrating blue eyes, as she felt him cup her face and skim a thumb over her cheekbone. "With us now…"

"Is it the whole teacher-student relationship?" He assumed, leaning up slightly on his arm. "Don't let that bother you, no one else will know about this."

She nodded slowly.

"Hey…" He came closer to her, allowing their bodies to touch and then press together. "How about if I take us out somewhere tonight?"

"Where?"

"Just somewhere nice." The stroking came slower and softer. "After all, you've got the deal of a lifetime now, with the modelling contract."

Jess drew in a deep breath. "About that…"

"It's going ok, right?" He tilted his head attentively, making her feel like she couldn't tell him that she'd gone and lied to his face. She nodded slowly. "Well, then." He added, getting out of bed. "Let's say no more about it."

Jess was glad she didn't have any sets with Chris for the earlier half of the morning. She waited outside the small, dishevelled studio as an _equally_ rough male emerged from it. "How much do you charge?"

"For what?" He snapped.

She resignedly gazed up at him. "For photo shoots."

During the later half of the morning, Jess came back to the school, realising that Chris had been loitering about outside. "Y-you've been _waiting _for me?"

"For the past _five minutes_, yeah." He couldn't understand why she was late. Where on earth would she have gone? "Where did you go anyway? I asked your mum, she had no idea where you were."

She shook her head. "Out."

"Out _where_?" He demanded to know, placing a hand on his hip. "Jess, you cannot just go running off like that off the premises. You had us both _worried_."

"Just…out." She cast a defensive gaze at him, which didn't faze him in the slightest.

"Ok, well…" Chris took her inside. "Next time, let us know."

"What _else _am I supposed to do when I'm waiting for you then?" She maintained her defensive gaze on him. "Watch paint dry?"

"No, but you still have the same rights as any other student." He stated. "Just because you're under my tuition and that we're both…you know…doing stuff together, doesn't make you any different."

Jess sharply took her place.

"I'm sure your mates are free when _you _are."

She said nothing to him, as he went over to his desk and retrieved a few practice papers for her. "Not _more _of them…"

"Not from _me_." He dropped them in front of her. "What happened to the other ones I gave you?"

She swallowed hard. "You want them back by tomorrow, don't you?"

"If you're finding it hard, Jess…"

"No, it's just that…things between us…"

"No, don't pin this on _me_ or on the fact that we've been at it together. The two that you've yet to give back to me, have to be in by tomorrow. You'd _better _finish them by then."

She lowered her gaze to the desk, not wanting to look directly at him.

"What's wrong?"

"You're having a go at me."

Chris sat in front of her. "I _have _to. This," he tapped the closed end of his pen against the paper, "is only one paper and I'm letting you do that for now. So I'm trying to give you a bit of leeway for the other ones you haven't done."

"O-ok."

"I know that you've now pretty much settled with this other job you've got going on, but that doesn't mean to say you're allowed to let this go downhill, like before." His bright blue eyes softened into hers. "Jess, you _are_ really bright if you set your mind to it, but sometimes I don't think you're _trying._"

Jess said nothing, but heard him get up from where he'd been sitting and placed his hands on her shoulders. _That_ was contact she'd been _longing_ for.

"Promise me you won't let this slip again." He pleaded with her.

"I promise."

He rubbed her down her back before moving back to behind his desk.

"With tonight…"

He peered up at her attentively.

"…Are we still on for that?"

"Enough of that." He smirked knowingly. "Get on with what I gave you."

Jess decided to say no more. She went back to what she was starting to write, but she felt butterflies fluttering about in her stomach at the thought of where he was going to take her.

…And _then _what was going to happen after that?

Images of the two of them in _bed_ together, doing incredibly naughty things to each other sprung to mind, but she carefully shoved them to the back of her mind again.

No. Chris was only taking her out. His intentions were completely innocuous.

In that case, if _his _intentions were completely innocuous, then maybe she should only accept his invitation on equally innocuous terms…


	17. Chapter 17

Seven o' clock came that night.

Chris answered his door to a very glitzy-looking Jess. "Did that take you all afternoon?" He teased, taking in her classy yet meticulously decorated appearance.

She smiled knowingly, bringing him up against the door as he closed it behind her; their hips brushed against each other, sending shocks through both of them. "So what time have we got to be there?"

He had to stifle the slight blush that was struggling to appear at his cheeks. "Pretty soon…" He let out a low whimper when their lips connected, and she softly withdrew from him.

"Good?"

He nodded dimly.

"I can make you feel even better…" Her hand moved lower, from the side of his waist to his hip, but he only placed a hand on top of hers to stop the touch.

"Not yet." He gasped out shakily. "Not when we have to start thinking about going."

Jess had never been anywhere so upmarket.

Chris courteously took her jacket from her and pulled her chair out for her. "If you wish to take your seat, my lady…" He winked.

She giggled a little as she did so, and he took his place in front of her. "You didn't have to go to all of this…"

"I _wanted_ to." He admitted, his bright blue eyes revealing such intensity from the lit candle in the middle of the table. "And it's for a special occasion."

She shrugged. "There's nothing special about tonight, Chris, it's a normal Tuesday night to me."

He took her hands with his. "It's special to _me_." He watched her come over slightly nervous. "Jess, you've finally _got_ somewhere. I'm not saying it wasn't ever going to happen, but you're doing something you _love_."

The nerves seemed to vanish and she came over more shy.

"Very soon, you might be _extremely _well-known within the industry."

She swallowed hard. "W-well, I mean it's a little soon to say that." She protested weakly. "I've barely gotten anywhere."

"But you've gotten over the first hurdle." He stated. "You're under the management of an _agency_ and you're on a contract list."

Jess peered down at the table. There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but he was so seemingly happy for her there was no easy way of going about that.

"Me congratulating you _verbally_ wasn't going to be enough." His eyes came over softer; when they did that, deeper shades of blue emerged from within the orbs. "Doing something like this seemed more appropriate."

She pulled up something from the side of her chair, and careful not to disturb anything on the table, brought it up. "I wanted to bring this along."

"I didn't know you had that on you the whole time." Chris made to get up. "You want me to get someone to take that for you?"

She shook her head. "I _meant_ to show you it."

He sat back down again. "Oh. O-ok, if that was what you wanted…"

"They're pictures from the first photo shoot." She explained.

"Y-you mean the one you went to when you went to see them for the first time?" He assumed.

She nodded slowly. "They're just preliminary pictures, but…" She noticed his attentive expression. "You don't have to see these, they're nothing special."

"No, I _want_ to." He sat closer to the table. "We probably won't get seen for quite some time, they're quite busy."

She cast her gaze back down. Why did she suddenly feel so awkward? "But they're not…_official_."

"Jess," he smiled softly, "I don't care whether they are or not. I'm really _pleased _for you and I wanna see them because I'm interested."

She hesitated.

"I don't know a lot about art or photography, but I know enough to gain some form of interest of it."

Jess reluctantly took out the first picture.

"Now that _is_ something." Chris remarked, poring over the glossy print of her lying down in a bathtub, with fizzy bubbles covering her modesty; her long, curvy legs extended out of the side of the bath in a sultry sort of way. Her hair was brushed over to one side and had a natural wave to it as it hung down past her shoulder. "I bet it took a while to set _that _up."

She knew he meant the backdrop; there were a few small tealights on the bathroom windowsill, and the lighting in the room was soft and dim, but not dark. It was quite a seductive shade.

"Amazing the amount of money some photographers spend on creating sets like _that_."

Jess swallowed hard. "That wasn't a set, Chris."

"What do you mean, not a set?" He peered up at her blankly. "Or are you just being modest?"

She gazed up at him softly. "That was taken in the photographer's bathroom." She noticed he tilted his head slightly, wanting to know more. "I paid for that shot."

"Jess…" Chris started. "I don't understand."

She shook her head slowly, wishing she hadn't have said anything.

"You told me that they had you on a list and that this was a preliminary shot."

"I never went to the agency." She noted sharply. "I _lied _to you."

"Why lie to me?" He asked. "Lying to me hasn't gotten you anywhere _quicker_."

"Because I saw the pictures of the other models. And they looked so much prettier than me…and _thinner_."

"Does that matter?" He didn't see why she still felt and thought that way. "You're _curvy_. Most girls would _kill _to have a figure like yours."

Jess jumped when he placed a hand on hers again. "It didn't exactly help when you kept texting me that night _either_."

"I wanted to find out how you did." He protested. "What's so wrong about that?"

"Because you expect a lot _of _me." Jess retorted, prompting people on another table nearby to them to turn round at look at her.

Chris lowered his gaze. "I'm so disappointed in you, Jess."

She felt tears stand in her eyes, as she noticed the young male sitting slightly forward with his eyes firmly fixed to the table. Unable to say any more, she sharply got up, slipped her jacket back on and took her portfolio with her as she left.


	18. Chapter 18

Jess loitered around outside in the slightly icy air, trying to flag down a taxi.  
>She didn't expect Chris to follow her out.<p>

"So was that your plan the whole time?" He cried out, not caring if she was growing all the more desperate to flag down a taxi. "To keep that pretence going for as long as you wanted?"

She shook her head. "That wasn't the idea, Chris…I'm so sorry." She went back over to him, wanting so much as to _touch_ him – take him into her arms and tell him that she didn't mean to hurt him. "I _love _you…"

"Don't." He sharply pulled away, rebuffing her attempts at touching him. "Don't touch me."

"Can I make any of this better for you?"

Chris made to go the other way. "I don't think so."

Jess managed to flag down a taxi, and made to get in.

His voice stopped her. "Oh, by the way…late congratulatory present." He tossed a small box onto the ground right next to her, and she shakily picked it up.

"What…?" She started to say, as he went to go. "What _is_ this?"

He shook his head slowly. "Just don't expect me to ask you again." And he was gone.

She opened the box, revealing a small yet expensively glitzy ring. A large diamond was perched onto the top of it. She gasped faintly in amazement at the beauty of it.

"Getting in or what?" The taxi driver had wound his window down.

"Y-yeah…" She weakly stated. "Just coming."

Jess lay down on her bed in her room, surveying the sparkle from the solitaire diamond in the soft dimness. She'd been doing that for the past ten minutes.

"What _are _you doing?" Bex stood in her doorway, noticing her lying on her back on the bed, staring up at something sparkly between her finger and thumb. "I-is that a…?" She came into the room as the gleam caught her gaze.

She nodded slowly. "My boyfriend was going to _propose _to me, Bex…"

"_Was_?" She repeated. "What happened?"

She swallowed hard, feeling the tears build up again. "I hurt him."

"Jess, I…" She sat down on the bed not too far away from her. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"I really _love _him." She admitted. "I didn't mean to hurt him the way I did…"

"Hey," Bex gave her a small hug as she sat up beside her, "how about the two of us go for that film we said we'd see?"

"But I never…"

"Just for an hour or so…to get your mind off things."

Wednesday morning.

"Ok then," Chris started, as Jess hesitantly took her place and he sat in front of her, "how did you get on with those practice papers I gave to you last week?"

She handed them to him, and he took them from her.

"Well, you'll be happy to know you're halfway through the biology ones. So if I give you the last two, you'll be able to do those by the end of next week, right?"

"I guess…"

"Good." He handed her a textbook. "If you wanna go to page forty-one and carry on from where you left off…"

"Chris?"

He took on a more attentive expression.

"I'm sorry. Really, I am. I had no intention of hurting you."

He said nothing at first. "If you complete that, you can go onto the next page and answer the questions on that."

Jess felt anger sear through her at his automatic attitude. "What is your problem?"

"Me?" Chris peered over at her as he'd retreated back behind his desk and sat at it. "I don't have a problem. Yourself?"

"This is so _stupid_." She furiously got up out of her seat, kicking it out from under her.

"Jess, sit down and get on with your work." He ordered her.

"No." She snapped at him. "I've had enough. And I've had enough of _you_."

"If you're not careful, I'll give you an _extra _page to look at."

"See? You're doing it again." She noted defensively. "Blocking all of what we have _out_."

Unable to come up with anything else by the time she got up and left, he chased after her.

Jess felt tears reach her eyes again as she made to walk across the fields to where the gates were.

"Jess Fisher, stay where you are." A familiar voice spoke out behind her.

She stopped dead in her tracks, squinting over at Chris as he caught her up.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked her. He was surprised he wasn't out of breath after chasing her. He was obviously fitter than he thought he was. "Come back. This is silly."

She peered down at the ground dimly.

"What did you mean just then anyway?" He wanted to know. If it meant him trying to reason with her into coming back, he wasn't abandoning that idea.

She didn't know what he meant.

"When you said I was blocking all of what we have out."

Jess shakily sat down on the kerb. "I-I don't know. It meant nothing."

"It didn't sound like that." He noted, sitting right beside her. "It sounded like you _did _mean it."

She drew in a deep breath, not wanting to look at him.

"Jess…I can't forgive you that easily for what you did." Chris admitted. "I haven't forgotten it, far from it…I couldn't even _sleep _last night after what you'd said and did."

She noticed a faint pair of dark circles under his eyes. To see a sight like that on someone who was usually so perky was a shock.

"_That's _how deeply I feel for you." He took her hand with one of his. "But if you keep lying to me like that, my feelings won't be as strong and I'll start to distrust you. You understand that…don't you?"

"I didn't mean to lie to you…just the way it all panned out. And I didn't wanna lose you by disappointing you."

"You would _never_ disappoint me by not getting to where you wanna go." He assured her. "But you disappointed me by lying to me. For us to be together the way we are, I expected you to be more…I don't know. _Honest_, I guess."

"I've been meaning to tell you, and after that night where we both…" Her voice tailed off at the memory of the mind-blowing sex they both had.

"…It all got too complicated." He assumed.

"I guess so."

"Tell you what." Chris started. "We'll keep this one-on-one tuition going for as long as it takes for you to do really well. On top of that, we'll keep seeing each other the way we have been, maybe take things a little slower and we'll see how things go for a few months, ok?"

Jess smiled slightly.

"Good." He pulled her into a hug. "The last thing I want is to _lose_ you. I want this to work out between us, Jess."

"So do I."

"I _really_ love you." He softly tilted her head up to peer into his soft blue eyes. "I don't wanna lose you."

"You won't." She shakily assured him, as their bodies pressed together through the hug.

"We should go back in." He admitted, pulling her up. "Before anyone sees us."


	19. Chapter 19

After school that day.

Jess went to leave, when Chris's voice stopped her.

"I didn't mean to upset you." He spoke quite softly, his accent accentuating more of a lilt to it.

"I know you didn't."

He slid up to her, his hands on her waist. He did have a brief look outside, to make sure no one else noticed their close proximity. "When I said I wanted us to take things a tiny bit slower…"

She peered up at him nervously.

"…I mean just that."

"B-but how slow do you mean?" She wanted to know. "Slow enough to stop us from doing things together?"

He smirked to himself. "Not _that_ slow." His body was _ever_ so close to hers – dangerously so, in fact. "We can still do things like that together, just not as often. We especially don't want your mum or anyone else to find out how close we're getting."

Jess nodded slowly.

"I mean you remember the situation between Jonah and Cesca, right?"

"All too well…"

"That's the sort of situation I want us to avoid, Jess." Chris's eyes took on more of a hardened appearance. "To show you how deeply I've fallen for you."

"So tonight then…" She started quietly. "If I just go home as normal and see you tomorrow, that'd work out better for us."

"Exactly so." He inched a little away from her. "Your mum will probably be looking for you soon."

She knew what he meant; he meant for her to back off, get herself together and leave.

"What will you do about the situation with the agency?" He asked her before she left.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't worked that out as of yet."

"It'd be a pity for you not to go for it." He admitted. "It would've worked so well."

Jess gazed away blankly.

"But I guess you can't really help the way you feel about yourself." He cast his gaze away sharply. There was still an air of disappointment around him, at the sheer fact that she _didn't _go to the agency at all and secured a contract with them, and then gone and lied to his face the way she did. "I guess it was a good idea at the time."

"I didn't mean to lie to you."

"I know you didn't, but it still hurt." Chris eventually plucked up enough courage to look into her eyes. "You'd better go now, Jess. Ok?"

"O-ok…" She slowly disappeared, leaving him on his own.

A few minutes later, Karen came by.

"How's it going?" She stood in his doorway, as he got ready to go.

"Y-yeah. Absolutely fine."

She smiled softly. "She's not giving you any trouble, is she?"

"No, not that I can think of." Apart from the fact that the pair of them were going at it behind her back, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. "She's almost finished the first sub-topic. She's flying through them."

"Well, under _your _tuition, I couldn't imagine it going any less smoother."

Chris ducked his head down a little, feeling a blush settle quite nicely at his cheeks. He hated it when he came over coy like that. "W-well…you know, I'm just doing my job."

"And you're _very_ good at that."

A thought occurred to him. "Now be honest. You didn't come all this way to ask me how she's been getting on."

"Well, no." Karen came in a little more. "Have you seen her at all?"

"No." He frowned. "I thought she was going to wait around for _you_." He noticed she came over more worried. "I think someone's gotten their wires crossed somewhere."

"She's not usually one to wait around for me." She admitted. "Plus, she's been going off with someone lately."

"Oh." He tried to come over a little uninformed about that issue. "Not boyfriend trouble, surely? With _Jess_?"

She laughed a little at his teasing sarcasm. "Stop that." She stated, smiling even more. She liked it when the pair of them joked like that.

"Well, if I see her about, which isn't very likely given the fact that _I'm _off…" Chris got his jacket on. "I'll let you know."

"Thanks." She heard her mobile go off, and she went to answer it. "Sorry…I have to take this."

He watched her come over slightly worried, even more so when she ended the call. "You look like you've seen a ghost." He noted jokingly, noticing the pallor in her face. He came over _more_ concerned when she shakily put her mobile away. "_Karen_? Everything ok?"

Karen didn't seem to register him talking to her; she found herself unable to speak, and she certainly lost the ability to move when she appeared faint and dizzy.  
>What was <em>more <em>intimidating to both of them was that she was going through signs of shock, and she didn't register Chris wrapping his arms around her to prevent her from keeling over and calling out her name again.

"It's ok, it's ok…sit down." He assured her, perching himself on a nearby chair. "Give yourself time to relax."

She nodded dimly, placing a hand on his arm as he kept it around her.

"What's happened?"

"Th-that was the police."

He peered over at her carefully, folding a stray, long bang back behind her ear again. "What did they want?"

"S-something about Jess being involved in some sort of incident. They weren't being very clear."

Why did Chris suddenly have a bad feeling about it all? "Where is she? Is she hurt?"

"She's in hospital."

He rubbed her down her back. "Why don't you carry on home? I'll go and see her…try and find out some more about what happened."

"I-I'm going to have to put everything on hold…"

"No, you don't." He finalised. "I'm not up to anything right now, and you've got _two_ other kids to worry about. Let me take care of this for you, yeah? You've been through enough shock."

The hand on his arm squeezed him there through his jacket. "Promise me one thing…"

"S-sure."

"Please promise me she'll be ok." She gazed into his bright blue eyes.

"I-I can't really promise you that, Karen," Chris admitted apologetically, "not without knowing what happened."

"But if you find out what happened…"

"I'll let you know." He reassured her soothingly. "Get yourself home and try and relax."


	20. Chapter 20

Chris hadn't banked on how far the hospital was.  
>He managed to park up, resenting the amount of money he had to pay for parking for just going to <em>see <em>someone.

He asked for Jess at the front desk, and he was taken through to the Accident and Emergency department.

He was shocked to find her lying down on her back in a bed, with her right leg in plaster and placed in traction. "Can't leave you for five minutes, can I?"

"Oh, no…" She didn't want him to see her like that.

"Oh, _yes_." He took a seat beside her.

"Why have _you_ got to be here?"

"To start with, Jess," Chris started firmly, "your mum was in too much shock to come up here by herself. Secondly, she's got your _brother_ and older _sister _to look after. And thirdly, if any of what's happened is to do with us, I'd rather be up here than her."

Jess folded her arms across her chest.

"I thought this attitude with you had stopped."

"I don't _want_ you here." She snapped.

"Well, tough, because I _am _here." He sat back. "So you only have me to answer to."

She drew in a deep breath.

"Now what exactly happened to have made you end up like this?"

"I went back to that guy who took those dodgy fake photos." She explained. "He was demanding more money off me."

"Why…" He leant closer to her. "Why didn't you tell me about this, Jess?"

"About what?"

"The fact that he's hassling you for more money, for a start." He wanted to know more. "Exactly how much did he charge you the first time?"

Jess nervously looked away. "Well, it wasn't cheap, but…"

"Tell me. Now." Chris demanded.

"Two hundred pounds."

"For _two pictures_?" When she nodded, he drew in a deep breath. "That's so irresponsible."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't know why you're saying that _now_, look at how you've ended up." He noted incredulously. "The fact that he's been extorting money from you and still is, is a problem."

"That wasn't all." Jess found her back hurt from the position she had to stay in. "I told him that I was going back to the agency and set up a contract with them. So he…did this."

"He _hurt_ you?" Chris assumed. "He _did this _to you?"

"He said if I wasn't prepared to give him any more money, it was the only way to make up for it."

"Jess, I…" He swallowed hard. "I'm tempted to report this to the police."

"No." She protested weakly. "Don't."

"Well why not?" He took out his mobile. "I mean it was partly your fault for getting involved with that guy in the first place, but you've been _assaulted _by him."

"He'll find out." Jess placed a hand on top of his. "He'll find out you reported this, and he'll come after you."

"He _won't _know." He watched a nurse come in to check up on her drips. "Enough worrying…relax and get some sleep. I'll come back tomorrow."

"B-but, Chris…"

"I _mean_ it, Jess." He stated firmly. "Do what they tell you to."

Chris dropped by Karen's.

She breathed a sigh of relief at seeing him.

"I thought you weren't going to answer." He noted softly, tilting his head at the weak state she appeared to be in. "How do you feel?"

"Sick and weak."

"You look it." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I don't think you should work tomorrow."

"Did you see her?"

He nodded softly. "Just a small bust-up between her and someone else."

"_That's_ a relief." She felt a little more relaxed. "I thought it was something _worse_than that."

"No, she's ok. Her leg's in plaster and immobilised, but she's still as perky as she was before." He reassured her soothingly. "Now get yourself to bed, young lady." He added teasingly.

Karen placed a hand on his arm, squeezing him there. "Thank you for coming round to let me know, Chris." She stated quietly. "I feel so much better knowing that you'd been to see her."

"Oh, that's ok." Chris peered down at the ground coyly. "I acknowledged that you had problems of your own, so I was more than happy to do that…"

"Are you sure you'll manage tomorrow?" She wanted to know.

"Karen, don't worry anymore." His eyes took on a softer appearance. "It'll all be sorted out, I promise. Get some sleep now."

"O-ok." All of a sudden, Karen didn't want to let him go. She felt an urge for him to stay with her for a bit longer, just for someone to talk to and to watch over her.  
>She felt he had more of a closeness than <em>Rob<em>. But…he wasn't to know about that, was he? And surely a little touch here and there wouldn't hurt. "You're more than welcome to stay around here for a bit if you want."

"Not if you need your rest." He stated. "Maybe when you feel better, I can."

She felt his grip on her loosen and then let go when he headed back to his car; she watched him get in, start up and then drive off.

Why did she have a small attack of butterflies all through that close moment between them?

Thursday morning.

Chris glanced over at his mobile every so often, as he'd placed it not too far away from him on the desk in Karen's room; he kept debating with himself whether to pick it up, call the police and tell them _everything_, or just mind his own business and go back to what he _should_ have been doing.

Finding it hard to let the situation drop, he decided to call them.  
>"Police." He shakily started, before being put through. "I wanna report an <em>assault<em>."


	21. Chapter 21

After school that day, Chris dropped by the hospital to see how Jess was feeling.

He came into her ward after being taken to a different part of the building.  
>"Now that you're pretty much better, I guess I don't have any reason to give you these now…" He noted to her, handing her a carrier bag.<p>

Pleasantly surprised, she peered into it. "You didn't have to get me anything…"

"Well, I mean the stuff they give you in here can't be all _that_ nice, can it?" He sat next to her. "Unless they've said you're completely nil by mouth and they stick you on a _drip _all day."

"I don't know if I'm allowed to eat anything." Jess admitted, "but I'm guessing they're thinking of discharging me soon anyway."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, I had an x-ray this morning, to see if the leg's healing the way it should. After I was admitted last night, they took me straight through to have it fixed."

"I remember the doctor telling me that when he took me through to see you last night."

She nodded slowly. "Anyway I heard the nurse say that she was going to find me some crutches to use."

"So you can't weight bear?" Chris noted, concerned. "At all?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess not. Not on my _injured_ side, anyway."

He thought for a few minutes. "Let me talk to someone. So I know just how bad this is."

"But I've already said…"

"I know," he placed a hand on her shoulder, "and I don't doubt what you're telling me. But you're still shocked, you don't seem to know yourself, and you've been heavily doped up…all good reasons for me to consult someone else."

At that moment, a doctor came in. "How are you holding up now, Jess?"

"Still feel stiff."

"How bad is she?" Chris peered up at him, noticing he was writing down something on his clipboard.

"She sustained a bit of damage to her hip when she fell." He explained. "It's not exactly broken but she chipped the crest of it – that's left her with a hip pointer."

"Sh-she _fell_?" He turned round to gaze at her.

"I didn't want you to get yourself involved with that guy." Jess told him quietly. "That was why I didn't wanna say."

"Jess, he did this to you _on purpose_." He sat closer to her. "Possibly with the intent to _kill_. Did he _push _you, was that it? And no more omitting certain truths this time."

She nodded slowly. "He pushed me down a flight of stairs."

"Well, that would explain the slight bruising to her back." The doctor noted.

"She's been keeping things from you too?" He assumed.

"She hasn't been completely forthcoming since staying here."

"Jess, this is _serious_." Chris placed a hand on her arm. "You're lucky you're near enough ok to come out, else I'd have a job trying to explain to your mum about this."

She shook her head softly.

"And he won't be going that far anyway, he's been reported." He noted, prompting her to gaze sharply at him. Ignoring her stare, he turned back to the doctor. "So is she ready to come out now?"

"As good as." He smiled a little. "The bruising to her back should subside within a few days, and as for the hip pointer, it might help to keep an eye on that."

"Well that's ok." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You wanna take a day or two off school so you can rest and take the weight off your leg?"

Jess shook her head dimly. "I'd feel better if I was with you."

"As long as you're _sure_." He warned. "Although I won't exactly know how to help if you end up feeling worse. On the plus side, you've got crutches…"

"Just take me straight to the sick room in that case."

"I'm not entirely sure you should be in at all." Chris admitted. "I don't like the idea of you being in when you're not really that well."

"But Chris…"

"Don't start that." He cut her off softly. "I'm taking you back to your mum's."

Five minutes later, Jess was given her crutches and shown how to use them; Chris stood not too far away from her in case she keeled over and the doctor reappeared with some painkillers.

"She can use these to dull the pain for the time being. There's enough there to last a few weeks, but she needs more she can get a repeat prescription."

"Ok." He turned to her slowly. "You ok?"

"I think so."

"You'll be unsteady for a few minutes, but once you get used to them, you'll be ok." The doctor reassured her.

"See?" Chris placed a hand on her back. "You'll be ok, and you've got your mum to look after you."

"But I don't want _her_ to look after me." Jess weakly protested. "I want _you_."

Chris drove Jess back to Karen's. "I'm not going to stay for long."

"I _want _you to." She pleaded with him, gazing into his big, bright blue eyes. "Please, Chris…"

"You going to be ok getting out," he started, "or you want me to go to your side and help you?"

"I don't think I feel I can get out myself."

"Ok." He swiftly went to her side once he'd gotten out, and pulled her out, as he made sure she only put weight on her _uninjured _leg.

She got herself back on her crutches as he locked the car up. "Feel so achy."

"Well, the doctor said you'd be achy for a few days." He reassured her. "But you've got painkillers to help with that."

Karen answered the door; she didn't look as though she'd gotten any sleep, even though Chris _explicitly _told her to. "Jess…thank god you're ok." She wrapped her arms around her, aware that she was on crutches.  
>She peered up at the young male thankfully.<p>

"Doctors say she'll feel a bit rough for a few days, but she'll up and about in no time." He reassured her.

"Thank you for taking the time to go and see her…and to bring her back to us."

"Not a problem."

Jess peered up at him softly. "Can you come with me?"

"If…your mum's ok about that."

"That's no problem." She smiled softly, letting them both in. "And you've done so much in keeping her safe."

The redhead managed to manoeuvre up the stairs on her crutches, with him not too far behind her.

"And no late-night surfing." He teased her, as she positioned herself on her bed. She propped her crutches up against the wall as he sat beside her.

"I don't think I _feel_ like doing that."

"Well, I don't know if that's a good thing or not," Chris smirked playfully, "but one thing's for sure, and that's that you need to sleep." He let her peel her clothes off herself, helping her out a little when she couldn't move her leg that well. "And I'm not getting any pleasure out of this, if that's what you think."

"I didn't think you _would_ be." Jess giggled a little, as she slipped a satiny-looking nightdress, catching his attention a little. "Are you sure there was no ulterior motive going on?"

"_Absolutely_." A slight smirk at his mouth told her otherwise. He noticed she seemed to be in slight pain as she tried to sit herself up. "You ok there? You want me to prop you up a little?"

"If that's ok."

"_Course_ it is." He managed to prop her up a little with her top pillow. "I _am_ to look after you."

"On top of us…doing things together."

He pulled the blankets over her. "Now _that_, young lady, is beside the point." He got up, drawing her curtains over the window, even though it was still dusky outside. "Now get some sleep and I'll drop by in a day or two."

She quickly grabbed hold of the bottom of Chris's jacket, prompting him to stop dead in his tracks.

He was surprised she hadn't lost her reflexes from the drugs. "Jess, I…"

"Please don't go." She pleaded with him again.

"I _have_ to." He dropped himself on the chair next to her bed, gently flicking a straight scarlet wisp back from her eye. "You can always keep in touch with me by texting, if you really want that."

"But that's not enough." Jess's hands moved to his sleeves, squeezing at the firm muscle underneath. "At least stay for a bit longer."

He sighed a little. He didn't want to leave her either, but there was very little he could've done for her. He twirled a long red strand around his index finger. "I can stay till you fall asleep, how about that?"

She relaxed a little more. "Ok."


	22. Chapter 22

It took some time for Jess to fall asleep – the fact that she was in minor pain might have had something to do with it.

Chris kept beside her, watching out for any signs that she was close to drifting off; he noticed her eyelids had difficulty staying up, and that was his cue to start thinking about going.

She immediately perked up as she noticed him starting to go. "Where are you going?"

"Jess…" He started resignedly. "I've got to go to bed myself, it's getting late. And I don't want it to get to the stage where I'm too tired to _drive_."

"I don't want you to go." She noted dimly. "Please, I-I need you."

He cupped her face tenderly, skimming his thumb over her cheekbone. "The pain will go if you relax. It's not exactly helping if you're tense."

"I'm tense because you're going to leave me."

"I won't go." He promised her. "Not until you settle."

She felt sleepier as he kept the touch going. "B-but what about everything at school…?"

"Ssh…no more worrying." He watched her nestle further under the blankets. "Close your eyes now."

Jess stopped her protest, falling into a deep sleep as Chris continued the touch in case she woke up. She whimpered a little as he gave her a small kiss on her forehead and moved her long hair out of her eyes.

"How is she?" Karen's voice came from behind him.

"She's asleep now."

She came into the room, standing not so far away from him. "She worries me sometimes."

"Well, she's ok now. She's back with you and she'll feel better soon." He peered up at her, noticing a more concerned expression. "She'll be ok, trust me."

"But after that," she started, "when she _does_ get better and she's mobile again, I'd have let her go."

He peered back down at the sleeping redhead, placing a hand on top of hers. "Try not to worry about any of that. Concentrate on looking after her for now. She's been through a hell of a lot."

"So you know what happened to her?"

"I know _enough_." Chris clarified, stroking her at her wrist softly. "Keep her safe, ok?"

"I'll try to." Karen watched him get up from where he was sitting, and he went to leave. "Thanks for being so good with her."

"That's ok." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "She's got my number if she wanted to text me or talk to me. She didn't seem to wanna let me go."

"It's hard for _either _of us to let you go." She admitted, placing a hand on top of his that was on her shoulder. "I think that very soon you're going to find yourself in demand, Mr Mead."

He laughed a little. "Well, aren't I lucky?"

Their bodies came dangerously close to touching, and she knew she had to desist from doing anything remotely naughty with him.

"If _you _ever wanna talk to me as well," he started shyly, "you can always do that. Even if it was just to say a few words…"

She smiled softly. "That's very sweet of you."

A coy blush appeared at his cheeks. "I'd better go before it gets too late and then I won't sleep."

"Well, we can't have that now, can we?" Karen teased lightly. She went to let him go, but she grasped him by his jacket's sleeve and pulled him back towards her.

Chris tilted his head in confusion. What was she planning on doing with him? And was he even going to _like_ it?

She wrapped her arms around him, bringing their bodies flush together; he jolted a little from the contact, but it wasn't as though it was something he didn't feel was _welcome_.

"Not coming over all soft-hearted now, are you?" He taunted back, hoping that what she just did wasn't in any way _sexual_. "I had you down as a bit of an _ice queen_, Mrs Fisher."

"That was just my way of saying thank you." Karen backed away, outwardly seeming awkward at hugging the young male, yet feeling warm buzzes pulse through her body at the close contact. "If I haven't already done so."

"Well, you already did…" Chris fished out his car keys. "But I think you've made your point now."

She let him go, watching him smoothly pull away down the road.

She got back inside, closing the door behind her.  
>She had to stop those feelings, those incredibly warm feelings that were always there when <em>he<em> was. She'd fallen for _Rob_; there was no way on earth that Chris _ever _felt anything for her.

Sighing at the realisation that he was just someone she wasn't _ever_ going to have, she went off to bed earlier than usual, in an attempt to block out the hot feelings.

Friday morning.

Karen was startled out of her reverie by Chris coming in to her room.

"S-sorry." He didn't expect her to be in at all.

"Don't be." She smiled a little.

"Didn't think you'd be in today," he closed the door behind him, "especially since Jess isn't all that well."

"She's practically exhausted." She stated. "Plus I'm finishing earlier so I can be there if things go a bit awry."

He nodded slowly. "As long as you're sure she'll be ok without anyone…" He leant against the windowsill. "I mean there's no telling how well she may feel within a few hours. And if she'd be in any pain…" His voice tailed off as if to emphasise a point.

She sharply got up. "Maybe I should see her."

"But you're here now." He protested. "And I only had her to teach…I can always go round and see her. Even if it was only for an hour or so…"

Karen nodded slowly. It wasn't as though she didn't _trust_ Chris, but she obviously felt it was better to have left Jess to sleep.

"The doctor did say she might still be achy." He added. "And what if she gets out of bed and doesn't use her crutches – maybe hurt her hip or her leg even more?" He noticed a concerned expression forming on her face. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Karen, but that _is _the worst-case scenario."

She nodded slowly. "As long as it's not a problem for you…"

"Why _would_ it?" He got his jacket back on to go. "Just stay here and try and work. I know that's harder than it sounds, but it'll take your mind off it. I'm there to help her."

As soon as he got in to Karen's using the keys she gave to him, Chris went straight up the stairs to see Jess half out of bed. To _him_, it looked like she'd attempted to get out of bed without using her crutches.  
>He was worried she'd attempt that, and what worried him all the more was that she was trying to pull herself out onto the floor.<br>"You shouldn't be out of bed." He carefully took hold of her around her waist and brought her back onto the mattress. "Why were you even _attempting _that? You know you're not well enough."

"I _felt _like I could."

"Well, that's as might be," he pulled the blankets back over her again, "but your leg is still in plaster and your other muscles are still going to be weak. Especially if you didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

She pouted a little, which he couldn't help but find amusing.

"Did you hurt your hip when you did that?" He noticed her incredulous expression. "Jess, if your mum and I are to look after you, the least you could do is to be honest with us. Now did you hurt it?" He wasn't surprised if she _did, _as she'd tried to twist herself out of bed quite forcefully.

She shook her head.

"How do you feel?" Chris took his place next to her on the bed. "Any better?"

"Still feel tired and achy."

"So no different." He pressed a hand against her forehead, the coolness of it soothing her a little. "You're a little warm, I have to admit."

"I feel ok, stop fussing."

"You wanna take something?" He suggested. "The pain will go if you do, and you won't feel as warm."

Jess folded her arms across her chest.

"This isn't fussing, Jess." He fished out a small box of painkillers that were prescribed for her by the hospital. "We both want you to get better, but you're not helping us to let you do that."

A wave of guilt crashed over her.

"Take these for me, ok?" He asked of her. "You'll feel better if you take them, honestly you will."

"I don't wanna take big things like that." She swallowed hard, feeling her throat tighten at the thought of swallowing massive tablets and noticing the sheer size of the ones he'd taken out of the box.

"Then I'll crush them for you." He offered. "I know you're not _supposed _to and they won't be as effective, but if it means you'll take them that way, I can do that."

She seemed reluctant to take them.

"I don't wanna see you suffer in silence," Chris admitted softly, sitting back a little, "and by the looks of it, you _are_. I know you don't wanna take these and I understand that. But they'll make you better; these are very fast acting. And once you've taken them, you won't feel as afraid about taking them again. No one likes taking tablets, _I_ don't like taking them either, but they're there to help you."

Jess swallowed hard again.

"Please, Jess…" He gazed at her gently. "Please listen to me and take them."

"It's not that I don't want to…" She shakily told him. "I'm scared that I'll choke on them."

"And that's normal to think that." He reassured her. "I'll get you some water, ok? You've only got to take two."


	23. Chapter 23

After many futile attempts at getting Jess to take the medication, Chris decided to give her a small respite from trying.

"Is it really that hard for you to take them?" He wanted to know, as she started to taste the unpleasant glaze on the first, almost melted, tablet in her mouth. "I don't think I _ever_ had this much trouble when _I_ had to take one."

"I just don't like the idea of _choking_ on them."

"Jess…" He smirked to himself. "You will _not_ choke on them. Not when _I'm _here."

"I can't do it." She pulled the tablet out of her mouth. "I just can't…especially when it tastes as bad as it does."

"That's because it's been melting." He pointed out. "It's been in your mouth for that long. That's what happens when you don't swallow them."

Jess looked around for something to put the half-melted tablet in, only to have Chris resignedly hand her a piece of tissue.

"I hope you're not going to do that with every single tablet." He stated.  
>He'd never known <em>anyone<em> to have such a fear about taking tablets, however big they were.  
>Even if they were the smallest things around, she would probably still have problems swallowing them.<br>Even _he_ had trouble with them, especially when he had to take some for an infection he had when he was little. He remembered his mum pestering him to swallow them, which he did eventually, even though he barely remembered _how_.

_That _was it.

"You feel up to eating at all?" He asked her. "Especially after having that tablet in your mouth for so long…"

"That made me feel _sick_."

"Well, the sick feeling will go if you eat." He suggested. "Even if it's something small."

Jess thought for a few minutes. "I don't know what we've still got."

"You want me to go out and get something?" He _did_ have a very good idea what he could get her. "As long as you promise to me that you'll stay there and not escape like before."

She smiled softly. "I promise." She felt warm all over as he helped her to lie back down in amongst the blankets. "I don't feel strong enough to get out now."

"Ok." Chris pulled the blankets more over her to keep her warm. "I won't be long…try and get some sleep."

Within ten minutes, he came back and went straight upstairs.

"I didn't know what you liked, so you're going to have to forgive me if I got you something you don't like." He let her take a look. "I didn't wanna get you anything particularly heavy."

Jess had a look. "All seems ok to me."

"Ok, good."

She couldn't help but notice the smile then appearing at his mouth. What was that all about?

"I'll go and get you a spoon – where do you keep them?"

She had to think. "Second drawer on your right as you go in."

"Now this," Chris started, peeling the lid off the top of the yoghurt, "will help you _lots_."

Jess sat up more, finding herself more able to sit up unaided.

"You could've let _me_ help you there." He noted, although he felt happy that she'd helped herself a little more. "Feel ok to have this?"

She nodded dimly.

"It _will_ help you, I promise." He gazed at her carefully. "You feel ok enough to feed yourself or do you want _me_ to?"

She shook her head weakly. "I honestly don't feel I have the _strength _to feed myself."

That made it all the more easier for what he was going to do. "You'll feel better soon. It's only what's leftover from the muscle weakness and from what the drugs have been doing to you." He made to feed her. "Now open up."

Once she'd eaten that, she started to feel a little better already.

"How do you feel now?" Chris asked her, noticing a healthier colour at her cheeks. What he did had _worked.  
><em>

"A bit better." Jess had to admit.

"Want any water?" He suggested. "It _is_ just there if you want it."

She nodded dimly, and he gave it to her. "You weren't kidding when you said that'd help."

"I _did _put something in it before I gave it to you."

"Something like _what_?"

"Well, guess." He smirked, noticing her come over worried.

"Y-you mean…the _tablets_?" The tightness in her throat came back.

He nodded steadily. "I remembered that was what my mum once did with me when _I_had to take tablets one time and I refused to. You don't think about swallowing them that way, and you don't imagine them being there." He took in a little amusement at seeing her pout. "You can't blame me for making you feel better."

"I guess not."

"How do you feel about taking the next two now?" Chris leant closer to her.

"Still a bit scared, I guess."

"But not as?"

She had to think. "I don't think so, no."

He placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing her there. "Now that you've taken them, you might be able to sleep a little better."

She felt her eyelids get heavy.  
>The painkillers the hospital had given to her had strong sedative properties, and the idea was for her to relax throughout her leg being immobilised.<br>"But if I sleep…"

He tilted his head attentively.

"…You'll still be here, right?"

"Sure I will." He caressed her through her shiny scarlet hair. "I'm here to look after you, remember?"

Jess nodded slowly. "In _that _case…"

"No," he smirked knowingly, "no naughty stuff."

She pouted. "But it's only us two here…" She lightly traced the middle of his thigh with her index finger. "And we haven't done anything together for some time."

Chris lowered his gaze, drawing in a small sigh. "I guess so…I just don't want us to not take this is slow as I said we should."

"Even if it'd be for just one day?" She noted coaxingly, her catlike eyes already succeeding at drawing him in.

He found her touch relaxing him slightly, and he felt sleepy when she moved her touch to his cheek after cupping his face.  
>"Ok." He said eventually.<p> 


	24. Chapter 24

Chris gazed at Jess unsurely.

She peered up at him as he started to remove his shirt. "Feel ok so far?"

"I-I guess." He peeled his shirt off and allowed it to drop onto the bedroom floor. "Yourself?"

She nodded slowly.

"I'm just worried someone will see us." Once he'd shed everything off, he slipped into bed with her, sliding on top.

She wrapped her arms around him, her hands pressing into his lower back so as to keep him as close to her as she could. "No one will see us."

"If you're sure…"

"Relax…" She softly stroked him under his jaw, as his bright blue eyes softened into hers. "It's only us two here."

Chris doubtfully lowered his lips down onto hers, feeling an immediate warmth go to his spine. He whimpered as Jess soothingly ran an index finger up and down the length of it, and they withdrew.

"Are you sure you're ok?" She asked him, noticing his slight wariness. "You don't seem to want this."

"No, I _do_, but…"

"But what?" She tilted her head slightly. "Chris, if there's a problem…"

"I…" He couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling he had about the two of them going at it _in her bed_. Anyone could've come back and seen them. "I'm worried I'll _hurt_ you. Your leg _is _in plaster and you've still got a hip pointer."

"Ok." She lay back, as he moved off her and lay next to her. "I don't see why you didn't say that to start with. You only had to _say_."

"Got too lost in the moment, I guess." He quickly fibbed.

"Well," she cupped his face, skimming her thumb over the contour of his cheekbone, "just because I'm _in traction_ doesn't mean we can't have fun."

"You still wanna have fun?"

Jess smiled softly. "If you're still more than happy to oblige."

"Whatever you want me to do…" Chris gazed at her tenderly. "You know I would do it."

Later on that afternoon.

Both of them were jolted from the house's front door closing.

"What was that?" Chris jumped awake next to her, both bodies pressed up together.

She strained to hear a bit more noise downstairs. "I think mum's back."

Like a shot, he slipped out from under the blankets and quickly got dressed. "That's my cue."

"Thanks for what you did earlier." She pressed her lips to his, after she pulled him down for a kiss.

"That's ok." Chris took his place next to her as if nothing between them had happened. "You going to be ok for me to leave you now?"

Jess nodded dimly. "I guess. I just wish that you could stay with me all the time."

"I know you do, so do I." He admitted. "But it's just not viable, Jess. Not right now, when anyone would know what we've been up to."

She came over slightly sad.

"Hey, don't feel so bad…" He gently brushed her cheek with an index finger as a tear freely rolled down it. "You can still text me if you want someone to talk to. I'll always have my mobile on if you want that."

"When will I come back to school?"

"When you feel well enough." He told her. "Which isn't yet. And I don't even know if the doctors are expecting you back for a follow-up and to remove the plaster from your leg."

"Why don't you call the hospital to find out?" She suggested.

"How is she?" Karen's voice came from behind them.

Chris didn't even hear her come up the stairs. "She's feeling _much _better." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "And she's been taking the painkillers like I told her to."

"_Really_?" She said, incredulous. "How on earth did you manage to do that?"

"Oh. Well, it was just a tried and tested method." He shrugged. "Nothing to it."

"I think you might have to fill me in on _that_." She came up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You'd make a very good doctor, do you know that?"

He laughed a little. "Don't say that, you'll give me ideas." He played back.  
>He peered down at Jess as he made to go. "You'll be ok now. You keep on taking the medication like I told you to and get some sleep. That's the only way you'll get your strength back, ok?"<p>

She nodded sadly.

"Good girl."

Karen saw him off, and they chatted for a little bit amongst themselves.

"Are you sure it wasn't a problem for me to come by and stay with her?" Chris wanted to know.

"Yes, it was no problem at all." She smiled softly. "I'm sorry if I didn't seem like I wanted you here, it was just that I thought she'd be ok if I left her to sleep."

"Yeah, but you know girls her age, Karen." His eyes came over slightly catlike in the dusky light. "She won't wanna just sleep all day. She'd wanna be up and about, and because of her leg being in plaster, she can't really do that."

"I'm interested to know what you actually did to make her take her tablets."

"Oh, _that_." He lowered his head coyly. "All I did was put them in a yoghurt and layered that on top. She didn't really know the difference that way."

"Wow." Karen remarked. "So you're not only good at _teaching_ or looking after my daughter, but you're also very _clever_."

Chris felt a blush start at his cheeks.

"You _are_ one to watch, Mr Mead." She teased, prompting the blush to redden into a cute scarlet colour. "I'll have to start taking tips from _you_ any time soon."

"There was really nothing to it." He stated modestly. "I'll have to call the hospital some time…just to get some idea of how long Jess will need to be off for."

"But her leg is ok, isn't it?"

"She sustained a minor fracture." He explained. "And she fell onto her hip, which gave that a painful bruise."

She swallowed hard.

"But she'll get better soon." He assured her. "She's taking the painkillers the way she's been told to and she'll do what I asked of her. You don't have to worry anymore."

"Thank you." She stated dimly. "You've done so much for her and I don't know how to repay you."

"You don't have to do _anything_." Chris smiled softly. "I'm just looking out for you."

Karen wasn't sure how to go about thanking him or how to part with him. She found herself getting lost in his bright blue eyes, which sparkled in the dusky light and without thinking straight, came closer to him.

He didn't move away. Whatever she was planning on doing with him, wasn't going to be as bad as when she _hugged_ him, surely? And even _that_ was unexpected.  
>Not <em>unwelcome<em>, by any means, but definitely _unexpected_.  
>He gasped softly as she planted a sugar-soft kiss on his cheek. He froze on the spot, not knowing what to say or think.<p>

"You should go," she mumbled dimly, "before it gets too late."

"S-so I'll see you Monday then, yeah?" He managed to quickly recover from the kiss she gave him.

"S-sure…" Her voice tailed off, as she watched him disappear down the path and get into his car.  
><em>Perfect<em>…she thought to herself, taking in his athletic, well-proportioned form. _Absolutely perfect_.


	25. Chapter 25

_A/N – Thank you for R and R's!_

_xXx_

Chris _hated_ calling hospitals.  
>He found himself getting transferred from one department to another, and when he <em>eventually <em>got through to the right one, the actual receptionist who _should've_ answered, worked part time and he accidentally called her out of her work hours.

Annoyed, he hung up and put his mobile back down.  
>He was going to have to <em>guess<em> at how long Jess should be off until.

Surely until she felt well enough seemed like a safer option…but was that something he could've _risked_?

Unable to wait any longer for an answer, he decided to drive up to the hospital and ask for a second opinion.

He was surprised at how many staff were actually in for a Saturday.

"Something I can help you with?" The receptionist at the main front desk noticed his lost appearance.

"Are there any plaster consultants on site today?" He wanted to know.

She had a flick through some papers. "I think there are one or two on site. Have you got something that needs to be put into a cast?" She looked him over, not really seeing anything broken.

"N-no, but someone I know is in plaster and I wanted to know the exact time it'd take for her to be out of the cast."

She thought for a few seconds. "Your best bet in that case would be to see an actual orthopaedic consultant. There _is_ only one on site but the waiting time is quite long…"

"Where _is_ it?" Chris wanted to know. If he had to wait for as long as he _had _to, he didn't care.

"Down the far end of the corridor and it'd be the second turning on your right." She explained. "You won't miss the signs for it anyway."

After an _hour_ of waiting, he was eventually allowed to see the consultant.

"How can I help you?" The consultant asked him, as he asked him to take a seat. "You seem perfectly mobile, so if you're not here on your own behalf…"

"Someone I know has her leg in plaster after sustaining a hairline fracture. I just wanted some idea of the recovery time and how it'd take for the cast to come off."

He frowned. "Didn't you ask the doctor's receptionist if you could find out?"

He gave him a beat look. "She didn't work at the time I called."

"So you didn't get anywhere with that." He looked over his notes. "I mean, without seeing her first hand, I don't really know, but given the fact that she's sustained a fairly minor fracture, it might take as little as a few weeks to a month. X rays would determine that anyway. As for the cast itself, it'd be removed as soon as she's been given the all-clear to bear weight."

He nodded slowly.

"Sorry I couldn't be more specific," the consultant sounded apologetic, "but I can give you the number of the actual doctor treating her. That'd save you the hassle of getting put through to a receptionist who's not even there."

"As long as that's not too much trouble…"

"No, it's fine, honestly. After seeing so many patients coming in here in plaster or on crutches, it's uplifting to see someone come in here and they're perfectly fine."  
>Once Chris gave him the doctor's actual name, the consultant wrote his number down on a post-it. "He'd be able to give you a clearer idea."<p>

He thanked him and left.

On the way back, he had to pull over, as he was aware of something – or someone – curled up in the middle of the road.

Frowning, he got out of the car and went over to the motionless body; he carefully brought them onto their back, realising with stark horror that it appeared to be a fairly young girl – possibly no younger than _Jess_.

He checked her over, relieved that she was still alive, and his _first_ thought was to call for an ambulance.  
>He fished his mobile out, only to hesitate at the last minute.<br>What if they thought that _he _hurt her?

He looked around, not seeing any other cars on the road nor anyone else about.  
>He quickly pulled a blanket out of the boot of his car and wrapped it around her; thankful that she wasn't that heavy, he lifted her into his arms and laid her down in the back of the car.<p>

As soon as Chris got back to his, he laid her down on his bed, and softly swept her long black hair out of her eyes.

He leant over her still body, taking in her seemingly weakened form.

She was very pretty, with a delicate fairness to her skin.  
>She stirred slightly under him as he softly brushed a few long stray wisps of hair away.<p>

He almost jumped a foot in the air when her eyelids fluttered open to reveal two piercing blue eyes.  
>He wasn't sure <em>what <em>to say as they adjusted to the dim light and then focused straight onto his softer blue eyes.

She jolted a little in shock, almost as if she wasn't expecting him to be there.  
>She didn't scream, but she was definitely <em>frightened<em>, and he could make out that she was.  
>Her first instinct was to get away, but he didn't exactly bear a <em>threatening <em>presence.

"Hey…" He spoke softly, prompting her to jolt. "…I won't hurt you."

She sat up, shivering a little. What from, Chris wasn't sure, but it wasn't exactly cold. She gazed at him fearfully, still unsure on how to take him in.

He leant back slowly, tilting his head in slight confusion.  
>It was clear to him that she was at an age where she could interconnect with him, but she was obviously unable to. "I don't think you can understand me…can you?"<p>

She brought her legs up to her chest, wrapping the blanket he gave to her more around herself.

"But it's pretty clear you don't wanna part with _that_." He smiled softly, as he tried to think of how to deal with the situation.  
>He couldn't exactly <em>leave<em> her anywhere, god only knew what would happen if he did that.  
>He noticed her eyelids started to flag, and that was a surefire sign that she was getting tired. "You wanna sleep?"<p>

She cocked her head at him, indicating her confusion.

He thought for a few seconds, settling on using a few cues to get her to understand. He wrapped his arms around her small body, carefully getting her to lie back down on the bed, which she did with no fuss.

He softly placed the tips of his thumbs over her eyelids, stroking the soft skin there and causing them to feel heavy.  
>He gently brushed the fairly long eyelashes, prompting the heaviness to settle even more. "Relax now…"<p>

She softly closed her eyes, curling up on the bed and falling asleep.

Chris was thankful she'd fallen asleep when she did.  
>He tried to work out where the hell <em>he<em> was going to sleep, after all, sleeping in the same bed as a fairly young girl was hardly appropriate. But at the same time he had to keep a close eye on her.  
>Feeling slight embarrassment at having to do something that was potentially risky, he slipped into bed next to her, but turned the other way so as not to misconstrue his own intentions.<br>For all _he_ knew, he could well wake up the next morning and mistake her for _Jess_.  
>And that wouldn't be too good.<p> 


	26. Chapter 26

Sunday morning.

Chris had been hearing the dial tone at Karen's end for what seemed like an _age_.  
>Eventually, he managed to get through to her.<p>

"Chris…have you got _any _idea what time it is?" She sounded drowsy as she picked up.

"But it's gone eleven o'clock." He peered over at where the slim, petite body lay, still wrapped up in amongst the blankets.

"I am so sorry, I thought it was much earlier than that." Her voice suddenly lifted itself. "Is everything ok? I don't think Jess is awake, if you wanted to talk to her."

"It's something I have to talk to _you _about."

"Really?"

"Is it ok if you come by sometime?" He sounded tense. He wasn't sure how she would take the fact that he had a semi-naked, young yet extremely pretty girl lying in his bed!

"S-sure…"

He hung up, and as if on cue, he noticed she was stirring awake.  
>He leant over her, carefully moving some more of her slightly flat black hair away from her eyes; her delicate eyelids fluttered a few times, almost like a butterfly's wings beating through air.<br>It was a sight that took his breath away.  
><em>So pretty<em>…

Once she'd adapted to the brightness, her piercing blue eyes fixed themselves onto him.  
>She made him jump at the acute stare on him.<p>

"I-I…" He swallowed hard, watching her eyes take on a more quizzical look.

She didn't seem _threatened _by him at all, but she was taking him in a bit more than before.

"Y-you want something to eat, is that it?" Chris misconstrued her body language, unsure of what she was really conveying to him. Of course, the first thing on _anyone's_ mind once they'd woken up was to _eat_. "I don't know what I can give you, I don't know what you like and I'm pretty much out."  
>That was something he hadn't figured. The fact being he was going to have to get used to having an extra one to feed.<p>

Within a few minutes, he heard someone at his door.

"You stay there for me, ok?" He softly told her, as he got up to unlock the door and let Karen in.

Karen went straight up to Chris's floor, where he waited outside his flat for her. "You look frazzled." She noted. "How unlike you."

He shook his head wearily. "For what's been happening, I don't think you can _blame _me for looking and feeling that way." He let her through, taking her straight to where the young girl was being kept.

She was stunned at the sight in front of her. She turned to him sharply. "If this is your idea of a _joke_…"

"No, this is no joke." He admitted dimly.

"Y-you're having sex with…with _her_?" She assumed, aghast. "Have you any _idea_ how _young _she is?"

"Why has anyone got to assume that because I've got a girl in my bed means I'm sleeping with her?" Chris retorted furiously, prompting her to cower in amongst the blankets.

Karen was taken aback at the anger in his voice. "…Then why _is_ she here?" She watched him sit on the bed not too far away from the small mass, and he softly coaxed her back out from under the blankets.

"I found her in the middle of the road yesterday morning. I thought she'd been mowed down." He explained, gently rearranging her hair to the way it should've been. "After I couldn't see any bruises or anything broken, I took her here."

"I-I don't understand. Why didn't you take her to the hospital?"

He stopped the stroking. "She'd be somewhere she doesn't know with people she doesn't know. And she was _alone_, Karen…it just didn't seem fair."

She smiled a little at his obvious affection for her. "So she doesn't have anywhere to go?"

He shook his head. "Nowhere I know of." He watched her sit up some more.

"She's certainly very pretty…almost like a little doll." She remarked softly, taking in her delicate features.

She cocked her head blankly.

Chris resignedly leant back. "I can't seem to get anything out of her since waking up."

Karen gazed at him carefully. "If she's without her parents, she's likely to want to clam up and not talk to unfamiliar people."

"She'd open up to me eventually though, wouldn't she?" He wanted to know.

"Well, I'd _say_ so, I mean you're hardly _threatening_. But your best bet would be for her to _write_. When she feels like it, of course."

Unsurely, he got a blank piece of paper and a pen. "Are you sure she'll do this?" He asked her.

"Give her some time first."

She flitted her gaze to the pen and then cocked her head at him in confusion, making him almost lose himself in those piercing blue eyes.

"Oh…write. You know…this." He took the pen from her and scribbled on the paper. "Can you do that?" He gave the pen to her, prompting an amazed look from Karen.  
>"She seems to understand visual cues I give her." He explained.<p>

"That's quick thinking." She noted breathlessly.

"What am I going to do about _work_?" Chris started to fret. "I can't exactly leave her home alone all day."

Karen looked at him carefully. "You'll have to get her a _babysitter _if she's _really _that demanding for you."

"At _her _age?"

She shrugged. "Well, unless you want her to run riot around here, which I don't think you _do_, you're pretty much out of options."

He peered over at her dimly. "I don't know if I wanna do this now." He protested, watching her start to make tracks to go. "I can't be her _parent_. Not now. I'm not ready for that."

"But you did so well with Jess," She assured him, "what's so different?"

"The fact that she doesn't seem to wanna _talk _for a start."

She placed her hands on his shoulders, as she stood outside his flat's door. "You'll be able to handle her, I know you will."

"You don't know that."

"I'm a _mother_, remember?" She reassured him. "And a mother has a way of knowing."

Chris tilted his head in confusion.

"You've got a very strong bond with her already." Her dark eyes fixed themselves onto his. "You'll both work out really well."

He saw her off, and he turned back to the young girl slowly; he looked her over, realising that he couldn't let her have a blanket wrapped around her all the time. "I'll get you something else to wear." He managed to get hold of a t-shirt he hardly ever wore and covered her with that.  
>Taking in the dainty proportions of her body, he hazarded a guess at her being no younger than eighteen.<br>Not that he was thinking about having it off with her already, oh no. What sort of person would _that _have made him?

After all, the poor girl was still very much shaken and confused. And still seemed weak.

Chris remained silent for a few minutes, not really knowing what else he could do with her. "Erm…name." He suddenly thought. "You got a name?"

She cocked her head slightly.

It was going to take some time to work out a cue for _that_. "O-ok…" He noticed her becoming weaker, and she was hardly aware of it herself. "I'll get you something to eat, ok? You haven't eaten for some time."

A small smile quirked at the corners of her mouth.

He looked at the time. It had just gone twelve. "You wanna go back to sleep?" At least that way he would've felt better about leaving her for a few minutes whilst he was out.  
>He tilted his head towards the bed to give her some visual cue.<p>

She nodded slowly.

"Ok," he noted finally, "let's get you to bed." He lifted her into his arms, surprised at how light she was.

She must've felt so empty.

Once Chris had gotten her to eat something, she'd perked up a little. "Feel better now?"

She smiled a little more.

"Well," he raked his fingers through her long hair, feeling a slight greasiness to it, "I think once you've had a _bath_ and get some more sleep, you'll feel a _lot_ better."

"…'Bath'?" She repeated dimly, cocking her head.

He gazed at her carefully. He realised he didn't have to produce visual cues for _every_ single word. "Y-yeah…a bath's _always_ good at making you feel better."  
>The only way he could show her was to physically demonstrate. He took her into the bathroom, and started to run the hot water.<p>

She shivered slightly, but he knew it wasn't that cold and it became more apparent _why _she was shivering when he made to help her out of the t-shirt he'd given to her. She refused to let him undress her.

"Hey, it's ok. I won't touch you." Chris assured her, his grip becoming laxer on the t-shirt's sleeve.

Her blue eyes became icier, bearing a more defensive texture to them.

"You think I'm going to _hurt _you…don't you?"

She nodded slowly.

"I won't hurt you." He inched closer to her as she shrank against the wall. "I promise I won't."

She swallowed hard.

"Just trust me." He went to lift the bottom of the t-shirt away from where it had dropped above the tops of her thighs. "I won't touch you and I won't hurt you."


	27. Chapter 27

_A/N - It might seem like the fanfic's going off at a tangent, but I thought I'd throw a complication or two into the mix!_

_xXx_

Chris gazed at the young girl unsurely, not knowing if he should've left her to her own devices. "You ok for me to leave you for a few minutes?"  
>After all, it was clear in <em>his<em> mind she didn't want him looking at any particularly forbidden areas whilst she was _in a bath_.

She cocked her head, seeming to understand him _that_ time.  
>"Where you going?" She further put across her question to him by grabbing fistfuls of his top and pulling him back to her. Not only that, but she stunned him by managing to actually <em>speak<em>.  
>It was coherent enough speech, although her voice sounded tired and drained.<br>That could only have him figure she needed more rest.

"I won't be gone long…" He reassured her, stroking her at her wrists in order for her to loosen her grip on him and eventually let go. "I'll come back, don't worry."  
>He couldn't understand her dependence on him, and very briefly, he was sure that she wouldn't have coped without him the day after.<p>

Half an hour passed, and Chris slowly opened the door to find her quietly dozing off against the bath; she was still in it but she'd fallen asleep.  
>He smiled softly to himself at how peaceful she seemed.<p>

He cautiously wrapped a large towel around her, careful not to touch or look at any particular places he _shouldn't_, and lifted her into his arms.  
>He laid her down on the bed, rubbing her down with the towel, and still managing to avoid touching anywhere particularly naughty.<br>Once that was done, he slipped the t-shirt back over her. She stirred a little in her sleep but didn't wake up.

Her eyes fluttered softly as he swept her once-again silky hair back away from her face, and when he got into bed with her, she moved closer to him.

Not wanting to initiate any form of sexual contact with her, Chris turned onto his other side, with his back to her.  
>He certainly hadn't anticipated her wrapping her arms around his neck and then for her to wrap her legs around his.<br>He swallowed hard, sensing her body pressing itself into his back.  
>If he were with <em>Jess<em>, he wouldn't have said no.

Managing to control the increasing excitement in between his legs, he turned to face her, their eyes locking onto each other.  
>"No," he told her, although not being firm enough about it, "no touching."<p>

"…No?" Her blue eyes softened slightly. "No touch?"

Chris made no further attempt to rebuff her contact. The fact that she'd reiterated what he'd said had distracted him, if not for her impenetrable cuteness.  
>Their bodies were still pressed together, and her legs were still intertwined with his.<br>It was contact that was _subtle_, yet there was something innocent about it.

_No_! He switched off that tempting little thought, realising that he had to end the body contact between them, before…

"I want to touch," she spoke softly, allowing one hand to move down the side of his neck to his broad chest, "feels good."

He gasped softly at the touch, inwardly shocked at what she was saying.  
>Why did what she was doing to him feel better than what <em>Jess<em> ever did with him?

"You like?"

He pulled himself away, noticing that she didn't want the touch between them to stop; he leant over her, placing a hand on her flat stomach and skimming his thumb over her navel.  
>"I wanna look after you," he started, melting inside as she cupped his face, "and to do something like this…"<p>

"Is wrong?"

"When I'm with someone _else_, yeah, sort of." Chris sharply sat up when she placed her hand around his wrist.

"This other girl you with…" Her eyes softly fixed on his. "You _love_ her?"

He lowered his gaze down at the blankets.  
>What he wanted to say was something he no longer <em>felt<em>. What had this girl _done_ to him?  
>"I <em>did<em>…till I met _you_."

"What you want to do?" She sat up next to him.

He shook his head dimly. "I-I don't know."

"Who was other woman?"

He tilted his head attentively. It was clear to him that she meant _Karen_. "Oh, she's no one _special_. Just a friend." He smirked slightly.

"You not like her?"

Chris coyly smiled to himself. "No, I like her. Just…not my type."

"But me?" She tilted her head, allowing him to get lost in her piercing yet by no means impenetrable eyes. "You like?"

He nodded slowly. "I guess so."

"If you want," she shyly lay back, removing the t-shirt he gave to her and allowing him to gaze at the parts he was _prohibited_ to have seen, "you can _have_."

He swallowed hard at the sight in front of him.  
>It was <em>beautiful<em>, sure, but he felt _guilty_ at seeing it, and on top of that, felt that it was something he didn't _deserve _to see.

"You _do_ want to have…right?"

Monday morning.

Chris woke up, sensing the vibrant sunlight filter through the window and drench the bed sheets in its warmth.  
>His eyelids slowly fluttered to adjust to the brightness.<br>He sensed something had wrapped around his neck, and that something else had nestled quite comfortably against his body.

He peered over at the young girl at his side, realising that she was asleep right next to him, possibly all through the night.

She seemed so beautiful as she slept, and she stirred a little as he raked his fingertips through her knot-free black hair.

_So silky…_

He really didn't want to get up all of a sudden; staying in bed and cuddling up to her seemed like a better alternative.  
>He felt his muscles ache as he sat up in bed; he managed to release himself from her grip, but that didn't go without incident.<p>

Her eyes flew open, and fixed onto his sharply.  
>She was obviously someone who was a light sleeper at the <em>worst <em>of times.

"I've got to get up." Chris explained loosely, not wanting to leave her. "I have to go to work."

"You not staying?" She tilted her head attentively.

He drew in a deep breath, smoothing some of her long black hair between his fingertips. "I won't be gone long, I promise you. I only work four hours today, so I'll be back soon."

"Stay." She gripped his wrists with her hands encircling them. "I feel safe with you."

He felt himself melt inside at the way she was holding him. "I'll come back, don't worry." His bright blue eyes liquefied into hers. "You trust me, don't you?"

She nodded slowly. "I trust you."

"Ok, good." He made to get dressed, feeling her admiring gaze on his athletic figure. "I think the best thing you could do right now is to get some sleep. By the time I come back, it'll be near enough time to feed you."

Chris was sure he could hear very loud, heavy footsteps approaching his room.  
>He hadn't expected Jess to open his door without knocking, fling it wide open and almost cause it to come off its hinges.<br>For someone who was on crutches, she was pretty _lethal_.

"Do you _mind_?" He stated, shocked at her behaviour. "I've only got one of those. You break it, you're _paying _for it."

She said nothing, but managed to place herself at her desk with no problems.

"It doesn't hurt to get me to _help_ you, you know." He retorted. "That _is _my job."

"Since _when_?"

"Erm…since you ended up in plaster." He took her completed answer paper from her.

"Funny, that." Jess shot back at him.

"_What's _funny?" He made to go back to his own desk, but was more interested in playing along with her.

"I thought it was since you stopped _texting_ me last night."

Chris smirked to himself. "So this whole attitude with me…is because I didn't text you last night." He sat behind his desk. "I can't help but think that's a bit _petty_, Jess."

"Something urgent _must've_ come up to have stopped you from doing that."

"Ok," he came from behind his desk and sat in front of her at hers, "if you really wanna know, I was with someone else."

His comment sent a stab through her chest. "How _could _you?" She noted incredulously. "After everything you did for me…and you end up with someone else?"

"Her situation was more urgent than yours." He explained sharply.

Jess sharply got up; she hadn't fully gained the strength in her leg, but that wasn't going to stop her from _trying_. She managed to move herself away from the desk, prompting Chris to grab her by her arm in case she keeled over.

"Now you know you're not strong enough to attempt this." He warned her.  
>That was the advantage he had over her. He could pretty much force her to sit back down again and make her stay there.<br>But he wasn't an _aggressive _person and it certainly wouldn't have helped their situation.

"No, you're right about that. I'm not." She blankly admitted.

"Then sit back down." He stated coaxingly.

"But there _is_ something I _am_ strong enough to do," she felt anger flash through her, "and that's _this_."  
>She dealt a hard slap to the young male, prompting him to cry out and shrink back from the hit.<p>

Chris retreated a little, placing a hand against his cheek where he was hit.  
>He was sure he was going to be left with a sore, awfully reddened bruise from the impact. His usually soft, bright blue eyes paled in disbelief and he tried to get his breath back from the shock of it all.<p>

Jess could see the hurt in his eyes, and she realised it was something she really shouldn't have done. "C-Chris, I…I didn't mean…"  
>She went to touch him, take him in her arms and reassure him that she didn't mean what she did.<p>

His reaction was another withdrawal. "No. Don't ever touch me again."

"Chris, I'm sorry."

He swallowed hard, feeling his stomach hurt as he did so. "I-I want you to go, Jess."

"But…"

"I said I want you to go. _Now_…"


	28. Chapter 28

After work, Chris went back to his flat.  
>He came across the young girl lying in bed, but she wasn't asleep. "Feel any better?"<p>

She nodded, relieved that he'd come back. She frowned at seeing a painful-looking bruise at his cheek. "You hurt."

He felt the bruise sting at the mention of it. "Oh…this? It's ok, it's nothing bad."

"Looks painful."

He smiled softly, not expecting her to get up out of bed, go over to him and carefully glide her thumb over the contusion. "Honestly, it's nothing to worry about…"

"I take care of you."

"It's ok…" He took her hands with his, gazing into her eyes quietly. "It'll go down by tomorrow."

"How it happen?"

Chris shakily sat down on the bed, for her to sit down next to him. "Overly jealous girlfriend." He explained, smirking a little.

"That not very nice."

He decided to leave the conversation at that. "You got a name at all?"

She nodded, finding it easier to talk to him some more. "Lian."

He tilted his head in fascination. "Sounds pretty."

"Yours?"

He gave her his, and he relaxed into her touch as she caressed the minor pain away from the bruise.

"Means lotus."

He felt his breath get taken away from the touch, if not for the beautiful value of her name. "E-even _prettier_."

Lian pulled away slightly, smiling a little. "Where you work?"

Chris explained to her, and after he'd done so, he had a thought. "Hey…how about if I take you tomorrow?"

She tilted her head slightly. "What for?"

"Well…I usually teach more than one student, but the girl I was with needed extra tuition during my free sets. Now that I don't have _her_ for one-to-one teaching, I was thinking maybe I could have you…"

She smiled softly.

"…With me."

"You could, but I not really been to school before."

He shook his head. "That's ok, I won't throw you into the deep end. How about it? You feel ok about doing that?"

She nodded swiftly.

"Ok, good." He looked her over, taking in her petite frame and realising he had nothing else for her to wear and in part pass for school uniform. "I'm going to have to start thinking about getting you more stuff to wear…I don't think my boss would be too happy about me taking you there in just a _t-shirt_."

Tuesday morning.

Chris managed to find out a relatively small shirt for Lian to wear; it was hardly one he ever wore so he didn't mind parting with it.  
>"Perfect," he stated, not wanting to button it all the way up, "absolutely perfect."<p>

She sat on the edge of the bed as he raked his fingers through her long black hair.

"You feel ok so far?" He asked her, loving its sheer length as it scattered past her shoulders.

"A bit scared."

"Don't worry about that, that's normal." He assured her, taking in her passable appearance. He was lucky that she was wearing thick enough _tights_ at the time he found her. They had a small ladder, but it was right at the top and so was barely noticeable. "I'll have to let my boss know about the situation, but I don't see there being any problem."

Once they got there, Chris took Lian straight to Karen's room. "Now my boss is _very_ nice. She'll _like_ you."  
>He went to go in, when he felt a tug on his jacket sleeve. He gazed at her anxiously. "You feel ok?"<p>

She nodded slowly. "Nervous."

"_Don't_ be. You've got nothing to be worried about…" He wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her down her back. "You'll be fine, I promise, and I won't let anyone hurt you."

She tightened her grip on his sleeve. "Can I hold onto you?"

"O-ok." He swallowed hard, sensing her squeeze his wrist through the fabric of the jacket.  
>He opened the door and they went in together.<p>

"Wow." Karen remarked, taking in Lian's immaculate appearance from where she was behind her desk. "You've spruced her up very well."

He smirked playfully. "I managed to get her to talk a little, so I felt it'd be better if I took her here."

She nodded. "But what about _Jess_?"

Chris closed the door behind both of them, not wanting Janeece to listen in on the conversation as she was _literally_ outside and could hear everything. "I couldn't deal with her anymore." He explained, noticing her worried expression. "She _attacked _me."

Karen came over to him, noticing a faint yet still noticeable bruise at his cheek. "She did _that_ to you?"

He nodded slowly. "Which is why I have _this _one."

"You _are_ aware that to teach her up to her own age level is going to take some work though, Chris." She admitted. "I'm not saying you won't be _able_ to, as I'm sure you _will_, but…"

"There's a _lot_ she doesn't know, I'll give her that," he told her, "but if I have her at my place _anyway_, she'll learn even quicker if I spend a lot of time with her."

She smiled softly. "Looks like you've got this all figured out."

"Ok then," Chris turned to Lian steadily, "you wanna come with me?"

Lian was helped to sit down once he got her to his room, and he sat in front of her.

"I don't wanna give you anything _too_ hard, in case you don't understand." He started, unsure of how to go about helping her. "But if I give you the _easiest _stuff I can get hold of, you'll let me know you're having problems, yeah?"

"I guess so."

He slowly got up from where he was sitting. "I'll be back in a few seconds, ok? Just stay there…don't move and don't touch anything."

He didn't expect to bump into Jess on the way out.

"Watch where you're going." She snapped at him.

"Oh. Sorry, Jess…I guess the slap you gave me did worse things to me than I thought." He shot back at her. "What were _you _doing down here anyway?"

"I thought you had _me _to teach."

Chris smirked. "Not anymore."

"_What_?" She said, incredulous.

"I took you off." He made to go down the corridor. "That's what you get for slapping me."

Jess grabbed his arm. "Is that your reason?"

"Oh, and by the way," his eyes came over hard and icy, "you're dumped."

A few minutes later, Lian heard the door open and he came back in.

"Ok, let's start you off with _this_." He took his place back in front of her, handing her one of several textbooks he collected. "Something relatively easy."

"I not have a pen."

"Oh…that's ok." He gave her his own. "You can keep that. I've got _another _one."

Just at that moment, the door was forcefully flung open again, and he sharply peered up to see Jess standing in the doorway.

"Jess, you shouldn't be here." Chris got up and went to make her go, when she came further into the room. "Go to your mum. I'll talk to you later."

"So now you wanna talk?" She cried out. "And why have you got _her_ instead of me?"

He watched Lian flinch slightly, and he turned back to the redhead. "Don't start anything with her. Do as I say and go away." He realised she wasn't going so easily. "I'm warning you, Jess. Go before I start thinking about something else."

Jess pushed him out of the way, going over to the smaller girl. "So he's got _you _alone with him now, has he?" She stated in a low snarl. "I'd be careful if I were you."

"You girl he split up with?"

She turned to him, incredulously. "Why did you _tell_ her about us?"

"I said that's enough." He grabbed her by her wrist, as if to make a point for her to go. "Go outside and sort yourself out."

"I think _you_ need sorting out." She retorted, pulling herself free and taking hold of her by grabbing fistfuls of her shirt. "After I've sorted _her_ out."

"Let her go, she hasn't done anything." Chris's protest didn't stop her as she swiped her hard across her face. "_Jess_!"

Lian cried out, shivering uncontrollably as she shrank against the wall.

He immediately bent down beside her, surveying the extent of the knock. He glared up at Jess furiously. "I'll have a word with you _later_. Now _out_."

The redhead stormed out, slamming the door shut behind her.

Chris sighed a little, before turning back to Lian. "You ok there?"

She nodded slowly. "My head hurts."

"I'm not surprised, after the sound that made." He tilted her head up carefully, not seeing any lasting damage. "You feel ok to carry on?"

"I think so."


	29. Chapter 29

"Now then," Chris started, making sure it was just he and Jess in the room, "you wanna tell me what this is all about?"

"You _know_ what this is all about." She retorted. "You and _her_…"

"Jess, _whatever_ you think is going on, you've got the wrong idea." He folded his arms across his chest. "_Nothing_ is going on between me and her."

"You made that pretty obvious when I saw you _with _her."

"I don't know what you mean."

"You _know_ full well. There was a _connection_ between you." She sounded almost afraid of him going off with someone else. "People do know a closeness between others when they see them."

Chris decided that was enough pretence for then. "Ok, I'll be honest with you. There _is_ something going between us, but not for what you think."

Jess shook her head incredulously. "Wait till mum finds out about this. Then you _will_ be in trouble."

"She knows, Jess." He stopped her from going. "She knows _everything_."

She tilted her head. "And she's _ok _about it?"

"If you wanna hear if from her yourself, you're more than welcome to." He opened the door to let Karen back in. "She's not buying it." He stated to her aside.

She nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Jess couldn't help but notice the small touch she gave him. Were things as sordid as any of them were keen to make out?

"Let me deal with her, Chris. You've done all you can to convince her."

He nodded dimly, as he left them both together.

"I thought you of all people would _empathise _with what he's doing." She stated to her icily. "To look after someone from that sort of background and want to help them takes a lot of_ compassion_."

"Mum, I saw them both together. There was something _else_ going on."

"I _know _Chris. He's not a pervert and he's not trying anything on with her. I should know because I saw them both. He's taking very good care of her."

"That's not the _only _thing he's doing with her."

Karen folded her arms across her chest. "I want you to apologise to him – to _both_ of them. But especially _him_."

Jess scowled at her. "What is it about him you like so much? He's not exactly _perfect_."

"_Apologise_ to him, Jess." She stated, even icier than before. "_Now_."

"How are you getting on?" Chris peered over at Lian, as she was on the fourth page out of six that he asked her to go through. "Coping ok?"

"Not too bad."

"Good." He smiled softly. "I knew it wouldn't be long before you picked up." His smile faded when he saw Jess slowly come back in.  
>He got out of his chair and went over to her, his hands on his hips. "Well, you managed to keep the door in one piece for a start."<p>

"I came to apologise." She admitted dimly, not wanting to look directly at him. "I'm sorry."

"Well, there was no need for that behaviour. You of all people should know." He tilted his head towards Lian. "I think you have someone _else _to apologise to as well."

"I'm not apologising to _her_."

"And why not?" Chris wanted to know. "Oh, you're _jealous_, aren't you?"

"Because you're giving _her_ all your attention."

He smirked to himself. "So you want attention." He flitted his gaze away from her. "I hate to disappoint you, Jess, but I'm not giving you any of mine anymore."

Lian peered up at him softly, causing him to melt inside.

"You _love _her, don't you?"

"This has got nothing to do with you." He stated, coming over a little more protective. "Now go away. If you haven't got anything decent to say to her, then don't bother coming back."

Lian smiled a little, as he resignedly closed the door after Jess had gone.

He noticed her gazing at him amusedly. "Sorry about that."

"You love me?" She put her pen down, her eyes bearing more of a softness to them.

Chris swallowed hard. "Y-you'd better get back to where you'd left off…" He told her hazily, going back behind his desk again.  
>He couldn't deny he felt something for the young girl, but after what had gone on before with Jonah and Cesca…should he really have felt that way for her?<p>

Although, the two of them had already been _kissing_ and _touching_ – to take the next step with her and try something _else_…something even _more _exciting…was just asking for trouble.

Jess answered the incoming call on her mobile. "What now? I thought I finished everything between us…" She retreated into the girls' toilets. "Y-you want more _money_? I don't _have _any…I don't know what you want from me."

Afternoon break came.  
>Chris talked with Karen about how Lian got on. "…She's getting on very well." He told her.<p>

"Well, I _am _impressed." She admitted. "What exactly did you do in the end?"

"I gave her some fairly easy textbooks to try out." He noticed her concerned expression. "Don't worry, they weren't anything like GCSE standard, they were ones that dealt with the later half of the SATs."

She breathed a small sigh of relief. "I'm surprised any of those were about, we don't usually keep them."

"But she's done really well." He assured her. "Maybe soon I can get her started on the GCSE stuff."

"I take it Jess apologised?" Karen assumed.

"As good as." Chris admitted. A smirk appeared on his face. "Oh, I get it now…you sent her down to do that, didn't you?"

She shrugged. "She's one of those that's quite conceited at times…she doesn't like admitting when she's wrong about something."

"Oh, I'm sure it's something she'll grow out of."

She smiled softly. "Not giving me tips on _parenting_, are you?"

He smirked to himself, wanting to get back on track with things with Lian. "I mean I know I've done some really stupid things, but…"

"What you've done within the past few days wasn't stupid."

He shrugged. "Come on, you must've had _some_ sort of unpleasant thought about me taking on such a vulnerable young girl…"

Karen nodded in admission. "But _anyone_ would've thought that without knowing the full extent of the situation."

"You have to understand that I didn't wanna leave her." Chris pointed out. "I couldn't have _left_ her, Karen."

She noticed his eyes came over slightly liquefied, almost as though tears were standing behind them but he was trying so hard to stop them from escaping. She placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing him there. "You're a very good person, Chris…"

He swallowed hard, in an attempt to repress the extreme emotions he was feeling. Never before had he felt so strongly for someone.

"I told you that you'd get on ok with her." She added, surprised at seeing such strong emotions within him. "And she _loves _you to pieces."

"How do you know?"

Karen smiled softly, prompting him to gasp softly as she brushed a small tear from the corner of his eye. "Because of the way she _looks _at you."

Jess got to the dilapidated studio at the proposed time.

It wasn't long before the photographer came out to see her.

"Better make it _quick_." She rolled her eyes at him. "Before my mum starts looking for me."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. "My sentiments exactly." He made to pull off her top and skirt, prompting her to pull away. "You know how hard it is to keep a low profile with _cops_ looking for you?"

"Cops…?" She frowned in confusion.

"Some _bright person_ reported me to the cops." He stated to her furiously. "Someone who you _know_."

She came over slightly frozen. _Chris_, she thought to herself, as he succeeded in shedding her clothes from her.

"And because you don't have any money," he started, "that makes things that little more _convenient_."

Jess was pushed up against the wall. "L-look, if you wanna take photos of me like this, you can _do_ that…"

"I want you to give me the name of the person who reported me." He stated ominously, not intending on letting her go.

"W-why should I?" She shot back. "He'll only call the cops and get them to take you away."

"Because if you don't…" He took out a penknife and held it against the side of her neck; he drew out a gasp from her as the cold steel pressed into her skin. "I'll give you a new _makeover_."

She struggled to get away.

"And it won't be that _pretty_."


	30. Chapter 30

After break, Chris had no sets and was just by himself; he was mildly surprised to see Lian come in.

"Is it a bad time?"

He smiled softly. "It's never a bad time to see _you_."

She smiled sadly, prompting him to frown at the expression.

"Something you wanna talk about?"

"I not quite know how to say this, but…"

"Say it however you _wanna_ say it." He assured her. "I won't think any less of you."

Lian paused for a few minutes, noticing Chris's gaze on her became more intent and intrigued. "I get bad dreams sometimes."

He acknowledged her answer, getting out of his chair and leaning against his desk. "Enough to wake you?"

She nodded slowly.

"I mean…" He moved himself away from the desk. "It's quite normal for _anyone_ to get bad dreams now and again."

"They always wake me."

"Are they of the same thing?" He wanted to know. "If they _are_, you could be suffering from _shock_."

She didn't answer straight away, suddenly feeling a little sick.

He came over to her, carefully brushing her long black hair away from her face. "Ssh…hey, it's ok, it's ok…"

Lian felt weak and dizzy and Chris helped her to sit down on a nearby chair.

"How do you feel?" He asked. "Feel ok enough to stay here, or you want me to take you home?"

"I need you make me feel good."

"Come on, be serious." He smirked.

"No, _you_ be serious." She gazed at him more intently, as he released his grip on her and made to sit back behind his desk again. "You make me feel good. Right now."

"_Here_?"

She nodded softly.

Chris shivered at the prospect of doing anything remotely sexual with her – especially somewhere that happened to be a _public place_.  
>Inside, he felt like a complete and utter pervert at the <em>suggestion <em>of the idea.  
>Maybe that was what he really was.<br>After all, he got a slight rush of adrenaline at the thought of having fun with her right there…in full view of everyone.

"You not feel like it?" She assumed, crestfallen. "I want make you feel good."

Chris gasped out in shock as she went up to him and placed her hands on his thighs.  
>Well, he certainly <em>felt<em> frisky enough, and if the way she was _touching_ him wasn't enough to set him off…

"Then you make _me_ feel good. We feel good _together_."

He timidly moved his hands to his shirt, unbuttoning it at the top and working downwards. He watched Lian's gaze follow each section of the shirt as it parted to uncover the soft, fair skin underneath.  
>He certainly didn't expect her to slip herself on top of him, sitting on his lap.<p>

"Good?"

He nodded dimly before she made him slide his lips onto hers. Timidly, they pressed together before grappling and then alternating between biting and sucking.

They shakily parted, and she softly stroked him under his jaw.

"Now I make you feel good." She noted, slipping off him, getting up from his lap and pulling him up out of the chair.

Chris leant against the desk, as she placed a hand on his flat stomach when she slid in front of him and straddled his thigh; she caressed him, prompting him to faintly close his eyes and gasp.

"You like a lot…" She took a little excitement in feeling his firm abdominal muscles tense in pleasure. "I make you feel good already."

He softly opened his eyes and nodded. "Lower…"

"Sure?"

"V-very sure." His hips twitched at the thought of her moving her touch to the more _intimate_ of places. "I-if you _want_."

Before she had a chance to further excite him, his mobile vibrated on the table nearby and he made to get hold of it.

"Let it ring." Lian closed her hand around his wrist. "I look after you now."

"No, I _have _to get it." Chris answered his mobile, his posture becoming more upright at realising who happened to be calling him. "K-Karen?"

"I'm sorry, I caught you at a bad time, haven't I?"

"Erm…no! No, not at all." He relaxed as he felt Lian's hand caress him down his back. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that Jess has gone missing." She noted bluntly. "Tom came and told me that he'd seen her leave the premises just before break."

"Oh." He swallowed hard. "Karen, that's not good if she's still partially immobile…"

"That's just the thing, Chris, she isn't immobile anymore." She explained. "She ditched her crutches as she felt they were too restrictive."

"S-so you think she could be…_hurt_?" He assumed loosely.

"Or worse. That someone had _taken _her."

He swept a hand through his bangs.

"I don't expect you to go out and look for her now. Not when you're busy yourself." She admitted.

"This could well be a phase and she's just seeking attention." He assured her soothingly. "If she still isn't back by the end of the day, I'll go and look for her. I'll try calling her mobile and tracking her that way."

Lian moved her hand around to the front of his body, pressing it into his broad chest. It was a signal for him to hang up, which he had _no_ trouble making out!  
>"Back to us now." She giggled, pushing him back against the desk again. "Where we get to?"<p>

Chris swallowed hard at the sheer naughtiness of it all. He shuddered from the way she was touching him. "Let's go somewhere more private…where no one can see us."

"Somewhere like where?"

"You'll see." He took her into the storage cupboard, closing the door behind them.

They both completely stripped, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, as their bodies melted into each other.  
>She pressed her lips to his, both sharing a deep kiss before withdrawing.<br>"So now…" She drifted her index finger down the front of his body, stopping a few inches below his navel. "You want?"

He nodded dimly. "V-very much."

"Then I let you have."


	31. Chapter 31

Lian shuddered all over as Chris kept his arms wrapped around her; one of her legs was wrapped around his waist, pressing their bodies together as they recovered from their afterglows.

"F-feel good?" He asked her shakily, mashing his lips against hers when she raked her fingertips through the dark hair at the back of his head.

"_Very_ good." She admitted, enjoying the fact that their bodies stuck together from the accumulated sweat. "You good at this."

He smiled shyly, as he managed to come unstuck. "I don't know about that."

They kissed again, before getting dressed.

"Too modest." Lian teasingly stroked him under his jaw.

"I don't have any more sets," Chris started coyly, "so why don't we both go early and go out somewhere?"

"Like where?"

"Well, it's turning into a nice sunny day." He noted, tilting his head towards one of the room's windows, which had let the late afternoon rays soak in over the desks and floor. "We could go out and enjoy the sunshine."

She smiled more. "Sounds good."

"Good." He smirked. "Let me get my stuff together and we'll go then, yeah?"

She made to slip her bra back on before draping the shirt he gave to her over her body.

Chris made to retrieve his mobile, which was lying on a nearby desk.  
>He frowned at the number of missed calls on it since he'd been having it off.<br>Not only that, but they were from the same person.  
><em>Jess<em>.

"Everything ok?" Lian came out, noticing he had his back to her. "You not seem ok."

He glanced over at her, unable to resist getting a small flash of pleasure out of seeing her emerge from the storage cupboard with the shirt partially undone at the top.  
>Her silky young skin caught the sun's rays, giving it a subtle yet sultry shimmer.<br>"O-oh. Yeah, everything's fine."

"Chris," she placed her hands on his small hips, "I know when you not ok."

"Just had a few strange phone calls." He hastily wiped them from the incoming call log. "Nothing more."

"Ok." She smiled, gazing at him reassuringly. Whenever she did that, it melted away the anxiety inside of him. "Then let's go."

"Find somewhere to sit," Chris instructed her once they got there, "I'll be back in a few seconds."

Lian sat down at one of the several tables whilst he went back inside.  
>It was certainly a nice sunny afternoon, perfect for just sitting outside and taking pleasure in soaking up the sun's rays.<br>It was almost as sunny as that day when…

"Here you are."

She snapped to, jolting out of her daze.

"Hey, is everything ok?" His voice had a trace of concern within it, and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Lian? Are you all right?"

She peered up into a pair of bright, blue eyes. "I'm sorry."

"That's ok, you seemed a bit far away there." He raised an eyebrow at her behaviour.

"Small headache."

Chris nodded slowly, knowing full well that it was _no_ headache at all. "Ok, well, drink that before the ice melts." He pointed out. "Judging by how _warm_ it is out here…"

She started to suck up the rich, milky cocktail through the straw.

"Hope that's sweet enough." He admitted softly.

"It's _perfect_." She noted, gazing into his soft blue eyes. "Just the way I _remembered_ it."

"It's one you've had _before_?"

Lian smiled playfully. "When growing up."

He leant more over the table. "You wanna talk any more about it?" He noticed an angst-ridden shimmer in her eyes. The intensity within them was imperfect at hiding her true feelings.  
>"If not, then don't worry." He knew he struck a nerve somewhere with her.<p>

"I not want to talk about it." She admitted slowly. "I'm with _you_ now."

"Then that's settled." Chris sat back again. "But you do know I'm always around if you wanted to talk about things like that."

"I want _you_." She shakily reached out, placing her hand around his slender wrist. "I only want _you_."

"O-ok, then you've _got _me." He placed his other hand on top of hers, feeling her tighten her grip around him. "I won't let you go and I won't let anything hurt you."

"C-Chris…" Lian squeezed him at his wrist. "Will you promise me that?"

"Yes, of course I will." He squeezed her back. "I _love _you."

They shared a very soft kiss together over the table.

"Now as for _tonight_," he started, soothingly stroking the petite contour of her wrist with his thumb, "I think the two of us should cuddle up in bed together."

She smiled softly. "Sounds good."

Later that night.

Karen stayed up till as late as she could allow for herself.  
>Jess hadn't come home and hadn't been seen for <em>hours <em>on end.

Chris cuddled up to Lian, hugging her close to his warm body. "Feel good?"

She nodded sleepily. "You feel so warm and soft…" She mumbled. "I like it."

He felt warmth gather at his stomach when she placed a hand over it, caressing its flatness. That part of his body was _so_ sensitive, all the more so when a gorgeous young woman was _touching_ him there!

"Well, I think it's time for lights out now." He made to switch the lights off, when she placed a hand on his wrist.

"Not yet."

"But I don't want us to get too tired tomorrow." He explained, although a cute little pout that she put on made him reconsider. "Ok, maybe I can keep them on for a _bit_ longer…"

His mobile vibrated crazily, and he answered it. "Karen…what's wrong? Can't sleep?"

"_Worse_," she stated loosely, "Jess hasn't come home."

He swallowed hard, sitting up as she caressed him lower down, a few inches past his navel. "That's not good."

"You're telling _me_."

"I-I don't know what to suggest." Chris admitted.

"I don't expect you to go out and look for her, Chris, that's not what I expect from you." She pointed out. "Should I call the police and declare her missing?"

"You _could_, but you know girls her age. I know she was _hurt_, but now that she's walking unaided she could be trying to get back into doing what she _used_ to do before that all happened."

"I don't like the idea of her being out on her own when she's still got a bad leg and hip." Karen's voice tailed off as there was someone at her door. "Not _now_…"

"What's up?"

"People at my door," she noted tiredly, "probably cold-callers."

"Please, Karen, try not to worry." He assured her. "She _will_ come back, I promise you."


	32. Chapter 32

The next morning.

Chris came into Karen's room, noticing her bent over her desk, supposedly writing. "And you say _I'm _keen to work."

She said nothing, and didn't even acknowledge him.

"Is everything ok?" Concerned, he came over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Karen?"

She drew in a shaky breath, feeling her ribs ache at the effort.

"Has something happened?"

"I-it's Jess." She explained weakly. "She's not coming back."

"Not coming back?" Chris squeezed her shoulders comfortingly. "What do you mean, not coming back?"

Karen peered up into his bright blue eyes, showing him the full extent of the lack of sleep from the night before. "She's _dead_, Chris."

He faintly gasped in shock.

"The police came last night…they found her at some dilapidated studio."

He noticed she came over slightly more shaken, and he pressed the front of his body into her, trying to keep himself as close to her as he could without making it seem _sexual_. "If you don't wanna say anymore, then don't."

"Sh-she was _raped_ before they…" Another reassuring squeeze at her shoulders stopped her in mid-sentence. "God, I wish I had a tighter grip on where she went…"

"There was no way you could've predicted what had happened to her," he reassured her, "and you couldn't exactly keep an eye on her, twenty-four seven. She wouldn't have allowed it."

"Then why do I feel so bad about it all?"

"Karen, listen to me…" Chris tipped her head up to him by placing an index finger under her jaw. "Get yourself home, get some sleep, and come back when you feel better. Things that concern Jess can wait till later. You haven't gotten any sleep. Focus on yourself for now."

"I can't do this job anymore." Karen admitted weakly. "Not when one of my own _daughters_ is _dead_."

"No, you're not thinking straight." He softly pointed out. "You're upset and you're shaken. Give yourself time to recover."

She grabbed handfuls of his t-shirt, startling him slightly. "Please…make me better."

"B-but what do you want me to _do_?"

She shakily pulled him down onto her for a kiss, their lips mashing together; he pulled himself away as she demanded more access to him, gasping out in shock.

"Why…?"

"I wanted to do that," she explained huskily, "before I left."

Chris gazed at her, confused, as she got up out of her chair and got her jacket on.

"I meant before I left you in charge."

"Karen, you're being _silly_." He grabbed her by her wrist, pulling her back towards him. "We can't have you leave."

"The shock of having one less daughter is becoming too much." Karen stated. "I want you to take over from me."

"No," he firmly shot back, "I won't do it. I won't _replace _you."

"You _must_, Chris." She insisted. "You're my deputy head and I _trust _you."

He gasped out softly as she cupped his face with her free hand; he melted inside a little at feeling her thumb caress the contour of his cheek.

"And this is something I didn't want to openly admit to, but…I love you." She whispered faintly, taking in a faint sweet scent on his skin. "I always _have_."

"But I don't love _you_." Chris noted apologetically.

"I know you don't," Karen admitted, "but can I do something?"

He nodded dimly, as she brought him up against the wall and planted a sugar-soft kiss on his cheek, before placing her hand on the side of his waist.

"We would _never_ have worked out," she caressed him further down his body, rubbing the crest of his hip with her thumb, "but I've _always _wanted you."

"I-is there anything which would make you change your mind about going?"

She shook her head softly. "I know you would have no problems running it all. I _trust _you."

After school that day.

Lian and Chris went home together, and they cuddled up on the sofa.

"So what does my pretty little lotus feel like doing right now?" He asked her, kissing her at the top of her head.

"I just feel good to huddle up to you like this."

"You don't feel like watching anything?" He peered down at her incredulously. "I've got _lots_ of DVDs if you wanna flick through those…"

She smiled a little.

"And there's nothing _naughty_ in amongst all that, I'll have you know." He added teasingly.

"Sounds good."

"And I think we should head out to get something _before_ that." He twirled her long, shiny black hair around his index finger. "I was thinking maybe in the form of a _takeaway_."

"_Really_?" She perked up, her gaze straight on his bright blue eyes.

"Sure." Chris smiled softly. "We can have _anything _you want."

Lian nestled her head against his chest.

"Because I wanna get whatever my special girl _wants_."


End file.
